All the Horrible Girliness

I thought I'd have to send old stories through the workshops in class, because I was out of ideas. I panicked, thinking of having to write fiction again. Last week, though, I came up with something. I had a seed of an idea while I was trying to fall asleep. By some miracle, I remembered it in the morning, and an actual character came out of it, with... like... themes and metaphors and stuff attached.

This week, though, I was sure I'd have to print out an old story. For two days I couldn't think of anything. Then, at the park, something big happened. A fire helicopter landed in the baseball diamond. The Bug and I watched, exclaiming, exuberant, my god it was so amazing. It would have been cool if I were alone; imagine that cool times one hundred. That's how it is with a toddler involved.

The story came out of that. No helicopters land in parks in the story, but the seed was there. Great things happen at parks. Big things.

It's jazzy, to create something new. You get high. I've been riding on my two new stories like surfboards for days now. With the first one, I couldn't keep my mouth shut; I sent it to friends before it was formed, like showing off ultrasound pictures. They squint at it and act happy for you, but really they think you're nuts. I'll be better this time. I'll let this story incubate.

Anne Lamott says there's a Dr. Seuss character in her brain, feeding her stories. I don't know where these last two stories came from. I'm not that creative. I'll buy into the Dr. Seuss guy idea, for lack of any better explanation.

posted by Samus @ 2:01 PM