I am writing this particular entry, because I want my thoughts to be out of my head completely, and the maybe I can refer back to it later for motivation. I just wanted to put that out there in case someone read this, and thought, "What the hell is he talking about?"..although there have been plenty of entries prior to today, where that very question could have been posed, so I guess I shouldn't care now.

I am getting ready to embark on a challenge that both intimidates and thrills me, and my confidence on this is swaying back and forth like a man running commando. Most, if not all of my basketball related articles I've written, are short, mini-features on a specific aspect of the sport. Sometimes its an interview, sometimes its just a brief audio clip, and sometimes I am recapping an event or game. Rarely do any of these types of pieces exceed the 900 word mark. I haven't mastered this, but I have found a comfort zone with which to operate in, and I think I've done alright for myself.

This feature piece I am getting ready to start, is way more involved than just 900 words. I have to spend time with this athlete, I have to get this athlete to trust me enough to veer away from the sports cliches that litter the airwaves, the internet and the newspapers. I will need to do enough research on this person, so that the questions I ask will be so deep and probing, that he may even have to think on it and get back to me another day. I fully expect this process to take a week or two and I welcome that challenge. In fact, this is the part of long process I'm most comfortable with.

The part that makes me nervous is the actual writing. As I told my lady earlier this morning, feature writing requires an element of creativity that I just don't have. I can give you the facts, I can pepper in my opinion, but the creative aspect of writing is one that I've struggled with since college. When I was asked to write poems or tell stories, there was basically a huge chasm between what I wanted to write, and what I had the ability to verbalize eloquently on paper. And now that I'm doing this feature piece, I have to not only face and conquer this phobia, but I have to slay this beast in such a fashion, that other people read this and say, "Wow, this is good!" And that terrifies me. I don't doubt my ability, but the process is intimidating.

Thank you for listening