Skip to main content

Context

The Ginger Ale Games are over. (I won.)

I woke this morning in a cold panic. I didn’t have enough time to get everything done before Odyssey as it was; how can I recover from losing an entire day? So I made a couple of phone calls, canceled two days of work I’d agreed to do – and suddenly I’m a day ahead!

Several things on my to-do list are fairly sedentary tasks, so I managed to pick away at those yesterday. One important task: transfer some of my story ideas from my idea file (okay, file is a very optimistic name for a shoebox of index cards) to an idea document so that I don’t have to lug every single scrap of paper I own to this workshop. I found myself mystified by some of these so-called ideas. Some are full paragraphs. One has a sketch, a map, and a diagram – and I have no idea what any of those represent. One card reads: “you never know when you might find a dead body in a restroom stall.” Well, wise words, I’m sure. Another reads: “lack of acetylcholine makes it difficult to filter out irrelevant sounds and other sensory distractions.” Okay, at least that makes a little sense. It’s not a story, by any means, but it makes sense. So much of this is based on my thinking at the time. Context is crucial. I suppose it would be fun to develop a character who cautiously pushed open restroom stall doors, just in case a dead body sprawled on the other side (in fact my mind is busily picking at the idea right now) … but what was I thinking when I wrote that card? It’s as foggy to me as “Mist” was the other day. Context. That’s what I need.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

This has been a very long week -- perhaps 16 or 17 days, at least. I have been offered -- and accepted -- my younger sister’s finished basement for the next year and a half. This will be a major cost-saver for me and a big help for her (she has two toddlers and is expecting a baby in August.) So that was a humongous start to the week. My other sister and her teenaged son have had to make some really hard decisions. She gave me permission to quote her: “spent yesterday at the hospital with my son. about eleven hours. sitting here writing and rewriting this entry trying to find just the right words. how to explain-- he is not healthy. he is mentally ill. he is not safe at home. none of this really covers it. so here's one image from the day. we walk into the east wing at maine med escorted by security. the very nice guard LOOKS like a skinhead but actually has incredible kindness and compassion for my snarly boy. he tells us gently that he has to check ian for weapons and sharp o...

Foggy morning

Next to my bed , I keep a pad of paper and pen (and flash cards and water and ear plugs and an alarm clock…). All the writer’s guides suggest this for writing down middle of the night inspirations. This is a fine plan. I’ve had great results. I’ve come up with solutions to difficult plot situations. Names of evil villainesses. Entire worlds. I’ve remembered doctor’s appointments. Occasionally the light of day reveals something less like a solution and more like the mystery of all mankind: “the plumber trumps! Seventeen children, be aware.” But usually the pad of paper holds something… useful. This morning’s result: One word. Mist. Is it a metaphor for my future? A laundry detergent? A new name for Sprite? A weather report? I don’t remember waking. My dreams remain stubbornly opaque. My subconscious mind obviously felt “Mist” to be of enough import to rouse me to reach for the pen. I even capitalized the word. Hmm. I wonder how many seeds of “great Ame...
Eighth grade mall dilemma . Say Ashley and Nicole have been best friends since kindergarten, but now, because of a suspicious incident at last week’s dance, Ashley has decided that Nicole is out to Steal Her Boyfriend. So she doesn’t want to hang out with Nicole, of course. Nicole is furious that Ashley has accused her of such a thing. Ashley’s boyfriend isn’t even that cute! So, Nicole doesn’t want to hang out anywhere – I mean ANYWHERE – that Ashley might be. Unfortunately, the mall is still the best place to hang out, and she is not going to stop hanging out there, for god’s sake, not because of that horrible Ashley certainly. But clearly it wouldn’t hurt to try to show up there when she knows Ashley won’t be there, like during Ashley’s bassoon lesson on Thursday night or Sunday morning when Ashley’s family is at church. But there is a problem. If she only goes to the mall at those times, then Ashley will hear about it and know that Nicole is only going during times whe...