Day: February 14, 2017

The Scene

I reached my car yesterday after walking a few miles. As I settled in and started the vehicle, I spied a truck dart through the light traffic from the right lane to the left and then to the curb. What the hell is going on there, I wondered. It had been abrupt and erratic.

There wasn’t any traffic. I pulled my vehicle out and kept a watch on the other vehicle. The vehicle was parked illegally. I wondered if they were having car trouble. Maybe they were taking a call. Perhaps the driver and a passenger had started arguing. Maybe…well, I write fiction. I can get pretty creative with a scene with a few seconds of speculation.

A woman got out of the passenger side. Something was in her hand. She walked back the way the car had come. I watched for understanding. She went to the bus stop. I was closer and could see better.

It all clicked. A person was asleep on a bench in the bus shelter. The woman was carrying a plastic clam-shell container of food. She put it carefully on the cement beside the sleeping person and walked away.

As I passed, I remarked to myself how wonderful and thoughtful some people can be of others. Of all the things I imagined happening, what I’d witnessed wasn’t one of them.

With that, it’s time to write like crazy, at least one more time.

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On the Other Hand

The question rattling around during my walk was, “Do you need to understand love to understand hate?”

It was strictly a writing question but properly prompted by St. Valentine’s Day posts. I’d reach my own satisfying answer but desired another’s input.

Shannon was the barista working at the coffee shop. A bubbling avowed Christian, her dress today startled me, partially because she wore a crown of roses in her hair. “Hello, flower girl,” I greeted her.

Shannon bubbled as she does. “I love Valentine’s Day. It’s my favorite holiday.”

“You like all holidays, don’t you? I know you love Thanksgiving.”

“Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day. I love love. I don’t have a boyfriend so I bought flowers and gifts for my room mates to celebrate.”

“So…do you need to understand hate in order to understand love?”

Shannon considered the question. “I grew up in a very loving, Christian family. I didn’t really encounter hate until I was a little older. Then…it helped me…appreciate love more. I don’t think you need to understand hate to understand love but encountering hate makes you appreciate love more.”

I thanked her, understanding her take. It’s like loving life more and appreciating it more after near-death experiences or personal losses, or being thankful for what you have after having nothing or almost nothing.

Not all will react the same, of course. I know some people who avow they’re thankful for what they have because they had nothing. But they’re so angry and bitter that they once had nothing, that in many ways, they strike me as still having nothing, because they can’t let go of how they once lived.

There’s always the one hand, and the other, on how these things can affect us. That’s what I go through with my characters, thinking through and feeling their reactions in response to their past and present, understanding where they’re at and why, and then telling their story.

 

Note: my conversation with Shannon is presented in abridged form here. She spoke, and I listened. I hope I correctly portrayed her point.

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The Singing Muse

Sometimes my muse reminds me of the classic Looney Tunes cartoon, ‘The Singing Frog’. In that cartoon, the singing and dancing frog amazes the man who finds him while a building is being torn down. He sees riches. But when the finder attempts to show the frog’s talents to others, the frog is just a frog.

Sometimes my muse is amazing; but other times, it’s as inspiring as a croaking frog.

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Today’s Theme Music

Did anyone else feel that last night? Felt like a giant rubber band had been stretched to its limit. Now, snap, it was released. A shift took place.

Perhaps it’s only a personal shift. I awoke this morning feeling fantastic, like I’m twenty years younger. I slept well and experienced deep and clear, OMG amazing dreams. Feels different for me today, though. I hope others encounter this feeling of change, too. It’s a fine elixir and an awesome way to start a day. Yes, even better than coffee.

In honor of the changes I feel, I searched the mental cloud for a song that felt right and pulled on out of the file marked ‘Feb, 1996’. One of the hot groups then was Smashing Pumpkins. This song of theirs, about Billy Corgan’s coming of age when he was twelve, feels about right. It was a different sound for the Pumpkins; I like it.

Here is ‘1979’.

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