Ladyfight

Write-a-thon running total: 11,136 words out of 12,000.

There’s a particular synchronicity that happens for me in writing: as I start to go deeper into my story, the world around me begins to bring small potential story-things to my attention — some bit of behavior that might work for a character, or a phrase that leads me into a new scene, or… well, it could be anything. My brain knows this work is important to me, and so it points me toward things that might be related. This is actually a well-established brain mechanism (the reticular activating system), but it never fails to surprise and delight me even after all these years. I have learned to trust it as a fundamental part of the writing process and to follow these “twitches” of my attention.

Last night I was flipping through an issue of The New Yorker, past the fiction, because I never read the fiction — I find too often their tastes lean toward precious prose coupled with poor storytelling, and life’s too short. But last night I stopped. And flipped back. And read the whole story because of a phrase that caught my eye. I noticed the phrase because my RAS nudged me, and the story (which was actually pretty good, that woman can write) has given me lots of little pieces of setting, and evoked memories of my own that I think will serve me well in my own book.

Being open in this way is a huge part of being a writer, for me. Then comes the challenge of deciding what to keep of all the shiny things the world brings me as presents. That’s another huge part.

And of course, I’m also finding things on the intarweb and in the real world (not that there’s much difference these days) to amuse me. I may be the last person online to see this video — or maybe I’m the second-to-last (grin). I don’t think there will be any Jane Austen in my book (although there is some fighting), but this is just the ticket for today!

Enjoy