He stared at his monitor. The cursor sat there, mocking him.

“Okay,” he said to himself. “Just calm down. It will come. It will come.” He started typing.

It was a dark and stormy night…

“Oh, lame, lame, lame!” He deleted the text and tried again.

“Never!” the princess cried. “I’ll never marry a black-hearted villain…”

“No, no, no! That’s completely wrong.” Back to the start.

“A long time ago, in a…”

“Oops! No, that’s taken.”

He sat and stared at the screen. All he wanted was a good opening. A perfect opening. Something that would draw his readers in. Make them want to read his book, cover to cover. But every attempt just made him more irritated. In frustration, he threw his coffee cup across the room, shattering it again the wall.

His wife, hearing the commotion, ran into the den. “What is it?! What’s wrong?!”

“I’m frustrated! My book is almost finished, but I just can’t find an exciting opening that will grab the reader!”

“Uh… Honey… You’re writing a high school text book.”