I had no idea what to title this blog and I looked down at my belly (I'm wearing a new tank top with silver stars on it ) and voila! That has nothing to do with anything.
I'm really sleepy and I should be in bed now (Wendy's asleep - quick make a break for it!) but I want to WRITE. I want to write so bad I can taste it. I'm reading On Writing by Stephen King aloud to my creative writing class - it's part autobiography part instruction booklet and ALL great. The man spends like six to eight hours a day just reading and writing. It sounds like heaven. And I think I could do it. Be a writer, I mean - I've read a lot of books, and I am at least partly certain that I could write something as good if not better than at least 25% of the shit I've read before. I just need...what? I don't know - an idea? inspiration? time? something to pull the safety net out from under my feet? Maybe if I haven't done it by now I'm not meant to ever do it. Who knows. We were talking in my advisory class today about how cool it would be if the people who got the blood you donated could contact you to thank you - and how cute it would be if that's how one couple met and fell in love. See - pretty decent starting point for a story, but so then what? What's the conflict? What must they overcome? Where am I going with this? That's where I always lose it. I can get started, but I can never finish - or even get to the middle - because I'm not really so good at the conflict. Joss Whedon said all the best stories start with a "what if"...but what if I never come up with my "what if"?
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What about starting with the conflict and building around that?
ReplyDeleteI just had my 3rd blood transfusion of my life (1st was as a child and the 2nd two both came from delivering my babies.) While I was hooked up to the IV, nursing my daughter feeling like I was going to go Insane being virtually tied to the hospital bed, I thought of this post and grinned. I watched the blood dripping own the tubing and falling into my veins and silently thanked Norah, (whom I've decided was my donor.) I also decided she wears sensible shoes (unlike me) and has a flair for cooking. I think we'd be friends if we ever met. ;) Thanks for the inspiration that got me through an interminable wait 10 days ago while I watched the clock to take my new daughter home!
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