WRITING 101

I like to write longhand on a tablet. The manual exercise gives me the feeling that I'm painting. The pen also makes a difference. I prefer Paper Mates. They flow across the pad. The writing is much easier if you have something to write about although an empty mind and a blank sheet can be a creative marriage.

Sometimes it is beneficial to get into a Facebook frame of mind and let the mundane thoughts have their moment although you hope it's more substantial than some chick lamenting, "I'm depressed. I just started my period."

I love the anonymous exchanges with people you don't know.

"If my father were alive today, he would be 83."

You respond, "He still lives in you. Happy Birthday."

Estanislao Contreras said there is no sheet of paper than can withstand his challenge once he closes the door, fills the room with bossa nova, rolls a joint and pours himself a glass of wine.

"Time stops," he says. "I write my best shit during these interludes. I feel like I'm making love to myself. My strategy, however, has evolved with the times. To attain the altered state I desire, I take a Xanax and drink two or three cups of tea.

"I've been getting high since I was 15. If Xanax and tea are the worst of my vices 50 years later, I've escaped the joyless last days of many friends who succumbed to drugs and alcohol. I'm lurking on the periphery with a few pretensions, but I've accepted my day-to-day fate.

"Ah, but to clean fresh stash and open a bottle of wine in the company of an attractive woman who longs for you! Because I think that scenario is a possibility, I haven't lost my belief in faith, hope and love."