You ever have an annoying epiphany that just keeps stabbing into your thoughts, like that shower scene from the movie, Psycho, complete with the music, despite all the effort you make to shut it out?
Yeah. More coffee?
Bernard Said
I’ve discovered this, too. Writing the early drafts is like chugging beer while revising is like sipping a glass of wine. Each provides a unique pleasure.
Wednesday’s Theme Music
U2 is hot and cold for me. I really enjoy The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum albums, but I was less enthused about others. This song, “Mysterious Ways” from Achtung, Baby, is my favorite track from that album. I like the mystic romantic aspects the lyrics present, and the sharp guitar hook juxtaposed against the beat and bass line. It’s a song that I crank up, and one that I sing to my cats. I sing it to myself, too, as I contemplate the world and my writing. Talk about mysterious ways.
Prologue
It’s probably just me, but I’m concerned when a seven hundred twenty-two page novel begins with a thirty-eight page prologue.
Door Scratch Fever
Door Scratch Fever (DSF) (catfinition) – a nocturnal feline affliction characterized by a cat’s need to incessantly scratch on doors. Some cats suffer chronic DSF while others may come down with twelve and twenty-four hour variations. There is no known treatment.
In use: “Spring struck, and Quinn came down with a case of door scratch fever, wiping out any deep sleep for us.”
The Intersection
I dreamed about my work in progress last night, specifically about the story-line now being addressed. My mind, being what it is, inserted me sometimes, so that I was part of the story. My mind, being what it is, would see that I was dreaming about my writing and including myself as a character, and then try to untangle me from the fiction being written. “I’m the writer. I’m not supposed to be in this story.” That would lead to dream-confusion among the dream participants (dreampants?) about what was going on. It was really…interesting.
Which, after awakening to think about it, demonstrates an intriguing intersection between who I am and how much I put of myself in my writing. Even when I deliberately decide to have a character do or speak in ways that I wouldn’t, that choice is based on what I’d be doing. My characters are composites of other people, but I’m essentially imagining how those folks would respond. I don’t know, though. I don’t have a secret window into their lives. I guess at what they’d do, twisting their responses into madness and lies, and courage and hypocrisy, betrayal and honor, all based on what I think I’ve heard them say and do, and the character’s arc. You all know how unreliable we are as witnesses. We color it all.
But in there, in the intersection between my dreams and imagination, and my choices and decisions, is where my writing takes place. Sometimes it’s a large intersection – or even a roundabout, with too many cars traveling too fast, all trying to change lanes and enter and exit at the same time – and other times, it’s two small animal paths meeting in a quiet field. Whichever intersection it is, I sort it and write.
Time to write like crazy, at least one more time.
Unique
You ever type or write a word, and then look at it and look at it because it seems like it’s wrong? But then you check, and, yup, that is the correct word and spelling?
I hope you do. I don’t want to believe I’m the only one that does this. I don’t want to be that unique.
Floofogenic
Floofogenic (catfinition) – produced or created by cats; a cat that’s suitable for photographing because of their visual appeal.
In use: “The floofogenic odors were strong testimony that more than one feline resided here.”
Roger Said
Trusting my demon is part of my philosophy of writing like crazy.
Tuesday’s Bumper Sticker
This bumper sticker cracked me up. Did it result from a mondegreen? (“All we are saying, is give peace a dance.”)
