Lately, I've been lamenting a writing drought I've fallen into.

It's not that I haven't written. I've put a lot of work into Philly Sports Limericks. With the Sixers and Flyers entering the heart of their seasons, I have a short poem to write almost every night (after as much as 15 hours of work beginning as early as 5 a.m.), and I've been pretty faithful in keeping up. I even added an extra versed feature or two in my extra time.

My job at the paper here in Lancaster also gives me a chance to write almost nightly, even though that writing is almost entirely limited to compiling minutiae for local athletes in college. "(School) (class) (name and high school) scored/recorded/posted/finished (number) in the (nickname's) (result) win/loss to (opponent) in (day's) game/match/meet." As restrictive as that feels, I'm glad to be on board. I love putting together the scoreboard page, even on full-slate high-school basketball nights -- probably the worst nights to be responsible for putting together boxscores.
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That said, writing's my passion, and I've been jonesing for a writing fix. And I'm working on feeding my addiction.

To start, I'm reading more, which probably helps me write more than anything. As I said, "free time" on my average day doesn't exist, but I've been sneaking a couple pages in at a time -- while eating on my break at McDonald's, in down times at the sports desk, a couple minutes before bed. I have a ton of unread books begging me to read them. I'm currently finishing Dave Kindred's Morning Miracle about The Washington Post

This week, I received my first writing assignment for the paper since cross-country season ended in early November. I'm writing about a local archer heading to the indoor world championships in two weeks.

I'm interested in pitching and writing a column for a friend's hockey site. In the newsroom the other day, we hockey guys tried to explain fighting's role in hockey to those questioning its necessity. If I can put a little research together today, I might pursue it further.

Finally, writing a book (and getting it published) is one of my life goals. I'm not sure how possible it is now, but maybe this is a good time to start (when I'm not bogged down in a full-time job or dealing with the responsibilities of living on my own). I have some ideas, a couple of which I might share in another post.

So, yes, it's been frustrating, working long hours for little pay in the face of student loans. But I know I've got a lot of writing in me. A lot of GOOD writing. And I'm excited about the possibilities ahead of me, even if they're not all clear right now.

And this post, if nothing else, has giving me something to write.

Also, here's a little beam of personal hope from Kindred's book. I learned that Jon Wile, the Post's head designer, first worked as a sports agate clerk for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Maybe opportunities in print aren't as promising as they were, even five years ago. But it's cool to read about someone so talented and so successful and think, hey, at one point not too long ago, he was in my position.