Echo Beach

          There is a small thread in the movie "Throw Mamma From the Train" where Billy Crystal is trying to write the beginning of a scene or book. He is trying to hammer out the all important first line, the one the sets the scene with as few words as possible. He struggles with some relatively bad lines like;
          "The night was damp yet warm…"
          "The night was cool, but not cold..
          The opening lines would get longer and more complicated, not only losing themselves in their complexity, but also losing the goal of a simple first line. Crystal gets so lost trying to set the scene that he never gets around to what he's writing about.
Finally "Momma", the augmentative abusive woman that the Danny Davito character wants the writer to kill, comes up with the first line the man is looking for.
          "The night was sultry! Sultry!" Then immediately starts haranguing the poor writer. Crystal is so shocked, angered, and appalled that he actually tries to strangle "Momma". The simple line shocked me. I had been completely taken in by Billy Crystal's struggle. When I heard the line I mentally left the movie and thought "of course. That is too simple."
          Writers block isn't kind. I spend too much time trying to break that all important first line in. Drawing is the same, I spend too much time trying to break "that" all important first line in as well.
          Now is the time though. We've just entered into a stretch that I call the "back yard" of summer. The truth is, these hot summer nights are my most creative, especially as we head into August and September. So now I'm dealing with a hot summer night and feeling rather creative.
          This night is indeed sultry.