Jul 03 2008
Out There
When I used to read all the time, and also had the time to ponder it all, most of the time whatever it was would have some occurence in it that would make me think ‘no way.’ Makes for good fiction, but would that happen in a real day? No. Definetly the writer’s hand at work. Like if someone in a book were to try to blow out a candle that had once belonged to their dead granfather, and it re-lights itself. Or if a character’s favorite actor was Michael Keaton, and they end up marrying an exact look-a-like. Or if someone where to write about an enormous ship named the Titan hitting an iceberg before the Titanic incident. Hmm.
But? Then I have days like today. And I realize that weird random things DO happen. Aha! Today’s weirdie thing was stupid and petty. I drove behind a car for about twenty minutes and I swear we caught each red light because of them. They had Michigan license plates and an Arizona U sticker. I thought, “Jebus, I’ve become a Californian. Everyone else drives too slow.”
That wasn’t the weird thing. Forty minutes later, on my way back home, I get stuck at a stop light. Of course I groan and start drumming my fingers on the window sill, thinking about my bad luck that day. THEN I finally look at the car infront of me, and it’s that same frikken silver civic with the Arizona U sticker and Michigan plates! What are the odds?
That’s one of those things that if I had read it in a book a few years back… I don’t know. It would have sounded too contrived. But of course these things happen. All those ‘incidents’ I wrote up there weren’t from a book, they were from reality. Proving that life is stranger than fiction? (I hate that term, though. On the Cities of Underworld thing on history channel, he was invesitgating the hidden tunnels beneath Castle Dracula, and he said that the realities of Vlad the Impaler were more horrifying than anything Count Dracula ever did. Psh. Dracula was frightening because he lived and hunted in the shadows. Vlad just impaled his enemies. Nothing to compare… lol)
prompt #11
Sometime back I had you prompt a personalization of your ‘negative nelly’ voice. Today I want you to name your ‘no time’ voice. This is a guilt inducer. When I say to myself, “I want to write,” about five or six other voices pipe up with other suggestions. ‘The dishwasher needs unloading.” “I need to exercise.” “If I don’t take a bath/shower now, I don’t know when I’ll get time again.” Those are the ones that are nagging me today, but there are plenty of examples, ten times more compelling and guilt inducing than these. ”The floors need mopping.” “The sheets need to get changed.” “The plants need watering.” “The porch could do with a sweeping.” “I need to catch up on my tivo library.” “When *blank* gets home they’ll be hungry.”
Guh. The list goes on and on. This is probably voice enemy number one, because it’s the easiest one to give into. How can you think of your foolish writing hobby when there’s starving children in the vacinity? Or when there’s a T.V. to watch. After all you never spend any time with so and so. Now would be a good time to call them. Honestly, it probably is a great time to feed kids/relax on the couch/call your sister.
The prompt? The next time you’re doing something mind numbing, like driving- LOL JUST KIDDING!- like waiting for the meat to brown, instead of rushing off to make punch while you have the minute, plan out a short story in your head. If Kate Chopin could write ‘The Storm’ as a single mother of six children, you can surely write something. ;)
