Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Ever experience something unexpected that turns out to help you? Sometimes it’s a friend, an encounter with a stranger, or a pet, but you end up telling them, “You’re just what I needed.”
Yes, had that last night with my beer buddies. My time with them was just what I needed, prompting today’s theme song by the Cars, “Just What I Needed” (1978).
Cheers
Today’s choice was one of several songs in my morning stream (which kinda sounds like something I was peeing out, doesn’t it?). I owe it’s stream presence to a cat, specifically the Ginger Prince, a.k.a. Meep, alias Papi, but also sometimes called the Blade. The youngest of our cats, he still enjoys roaming at night. The house quickly bores him, so he wants out. Then, it’s cold and raining, so he wants in. But it’s boring in the house, so he wants out. But it’s cold and raining, so he wants in. And always, as he’s going in and out, he’s asking me, “What are you doing? Want to play?”
Either way, in or out, he spends the day sleeping, bathing, eating, with a little playing on the side, but he likes the night life better.
From 1979, here are The Cars with “Let’s Go”.
Sometimes, when firmly entrenched in the writing zone, I look up and ask myself, “Holy crap, what happened to the day?” Morning has passed into lunch, and lunch is long gone. I’m hungry and need a restroom. My coffee cup is almost empty; what remains is icicle cold. Looks like I’ve come to the end. Regret drenches me as I think of the other things that must be done, instead of writing, like eating and peeing. Yeah, weird, right?
But sometimes, when I’m in the zone, theme music like The Cars, “Good Times Roll,” comes over me. “Let the good times roll. Let them knock you around.” Yeah.
Writing so often is a series of logic problems that I create that I must then solve. Why did this happen? How was it resolved? Writing is solving one big question, the story’s arc, through multiple arcs, stories, and anecdotes that twist perceptions, throws up confusion, advances the premise, reveals more of the story, and helps the characters develop.
Ah, well. Let the good times roll, when they happen. “If the illusion is real, let them give you a ride.” It’s days like these, when I’m writing, and trying to exercise intelligence, imagination, and creativity, that I’m at my happiest, because I’m enjoying what I’m writing, but I’m enjoying it as much as a reader, because I’m just so deeply into it.
Let the good times roll.
Michael Seidel, writer 