Automatic Writing??

Sipping on a Caesar. It's not helping. I've been staring at my binder and my keyboard for approximately three hours. I have written three paragraphs. That's a paragraph an hour. Really? On top of that, I'm pretty sure I'm throwing those out. No, I'm not working on my novel. I'm working on a writing exercise given to me by a friend. These are the instructions:

Complete a page of automatic writing to one of 10 opening phrases.

Out of the ten, you're supposed to decide what jumps at you. The ones I chose were:

The most frightening person in my childhood was...

Was I anxious to grow up?

If I ever get a chance to avenge myself...

The person I wish I could bring back is...

You then brainstorm any ideas, images, words etc. and write them down in circles around the sentences. Then you make connections between those words, and then you write your story. Sounds simple right? Automatic writing....

There's nothing automatic about my writing. I don't know how to do that. I once heard Sarah McLachlin say that writing doesn't come easily for her, that it's like getting blood from a stone. I am somewhat comforted by this, because of I love Sarah McLachlin's music. The difference is, at the end of a hard day/week/month's writing, she is left with a piece of art. I am left with a piece of crap.

What to do, what to do...