I’m way behind on reading my newspapers, so I’m only just now getting to the December 7th issue of the Washington Post Book World.

In an essay published as part of the regular feature “The Writing Life,” in which guest writers offer insight into their methods, Roy Blount Jr. provides this advice:

The only writing tip I can honestly offer, aside from “Do not shift your metaphors without making clear that you realize you are doing it,” is to quote something Wynonie Harris sung back in the ’50s: “Keep on churning till the butter comes.”

I like that metaphor. I really do. It speaks to the fact that perspiration will beget inspiration.

And yet … somehow I get the sense that Harris was singing about something other than writing …