Enjoy a little random read on this fine Thursday.
Tag: Darla
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At War with My Mouth
Have you ever flippantly mentioned that you’re a writer and then seriously regretted it? I guess it goes without saying that I have. At my day job a while back, someone I rarely see wondered why I have a thesaurus on my desk. Feeling bold, I replied honestly, never thinking much about my confession even through a few follow-on questions. Apparently I was in a manic mood phase, for I don’t recall the exchange at all, neither his queries nor my answers.
Fast forward to this morning, the guy walks in. His greeting was not what I expected. “How’s your writing coming?”
Brilliantly, I said, “What?” When he repeated the question, I managed a semi-coherent reply about much-needed rewrites going well over the holiday weekend. He didn’t stop there, of course, and I could feel my cheeks heat the instant he asked what kind of stories I write.
This man, who looks like he could be my grandfather, appeared to have no idea what erotica is. When I explained that it’s romance with steamy bits, he asked if I had any stories with me. I flat out lied and said no, even though every single tale I’ve penned for the last several years is on the thumb drive in my laptop bag, not to mention the laptop!
He didn’t seem to notice my discomfiture, even when I told him in so many words that it is embarrassing to hand over my tales face to face. The one and only time I handed a casual acquaintance some pages to read, I nearly had a stroke. And he’s not someone I’m likely to see ever again.
This fellow, on the other hand, will be stopping by my office at least three or four times a month. And he asked me to bring something in for him to read if I remember. How can I convincingly lie every time and tell him all my stories are at home? Do I want to? Not really. Getting up the nerve after he walked away, I wrote my blog website down and stuck the note with his paperwork.
“There”, I thought. “I’m not responsible for anything he reads or doesn’t read.”
The evasiveness felt very honorable in an odd way, even vaguely Japanese in its sensibility. Then I inevitably thought about the matter some more. Why not print out a piece of short fiction without any sex in it? Believe it or not, I do have a few. ~grin~ Well, the end result is that I currently have a two page story tucked away with a note listing my blog stapled to it.
I ultimately just couldn’t go through with handing over anything, not even by sticking the sheets in his paperwork slot and sneaking out to avoid seeing him. What if he’s homophobic? Quite a bit of my material addresses gay relationships. Even the ficlet I printed out focuses on two men in love, whether or not it stands out in this particular vignette.
Odds are that I’ll see this man in another week or so. The last thing I need at work is the added stress of a business contact reading sensual stories and thinking of me. Any suggestions? Should I hand over a copy of “War and Peace”?
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Thursday Thirteen
Here we are again, randomly titillating your senses. Please enjoy a read and share a response. We appreciate it!
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Thursday Thirteen
Time for random thoughts. We hope you’re having a good week!
A. Catherine Noon
Darla’s Sand Castles
A Bit of Sunshine
Lucius Antony -
Thursday Thirteen
Thursdays mean listing thirteen random things. Whoever came up with the idea, it’s fun to read (or view) whatever bloggers compile. Come enjoy a peak into the minds of our contributors:
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Artist’s Way
It’s official, I’m actually embarking on a type of self-help program. Me. I never expected this in a million years. I’ve tended to just shake my head at a friend of mine constantly reading therapeutic advice. Peak in her magazine rack and you’ll find all sorts of periodicals and books on raising children, improving marital relations, organizing the home, you name it.
Her computer monitor is decorated with a plethora of motivational stickers. Mine has pictures of sexy men, all my self improvement directed toward writing smut. Honestly, I have yet to see any of her allegedly life-changing endeavors have any lasting impact, giving me no reason to change my opinion.
So why am I trying Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”? My chief reason is the same explanation for what I’m doing right now – blogging. The gifted folks of this Writer’s Retreat have inspired me to try many unexpected things. When some from this group and The Evanston Writers Workshop banded together for the months long program, my enthusiasm piqued.
Anything that opens my creative mind can only be good. And the testimonies I have been personally given inspire me to keep an open mind. Who knows? Like anything worthwhile, this will take time and commitment. Maybe I’ll be touting this to my pal three months from now. I’ll keep you updated. And in the meantime, I hope you’re finding the spirit of creation in whatever you do!
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Flash Fiction Friday
To celebrate the close of the work week (we hope you’re off tomorrow!), we’re offering short fiction for your enjoyment.
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Thursday Thirteen
It’s that day of the week again when we share random lists.
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My characters don’t “say”, they proclaim…
Okay, it’s a silly title for a blog post. My quandary is rather comically illustrated, though, for I take issue with repetitive language. A past crusade was against the word “was”. This indicative can so easily become a crutch, I think. An early original series of mine received a serious purge, then I subsequently encountered “was” so many times on the first few pages of a book that I refused to read this popular author’s entire series!
Later, a friend kindly pointed another tendency I had to overuse “had”. Yikes. Thanks, Nikki! The kind pointers from artists like you and other dear colleagues really help my craft and improve my tales.
Now, as you’ve surely guessed, I’ve moved onto dialogue tags. The ideal goal is to not need to blatantly indicate the speaker. An author should aspire toward the reader determining who is talking without such aids. Other times, we unavoidably need them, especially when inserting a descriptive paragraph in the middle of the exchange. In those instances, I’ve become obsessed with avoiding “says” or “said”.
A big part of this is just me being picky. And yet I listened to a book on tape that would have been pure pleasure except for the constant “he said” or “she said” sprinkled liberally throughout. The phrase actually came to annoy me and my captive spouse during the long car ride. Whether or not “said” blended into the written page, I physically flinched as time went on.
Considering this, let’s agree that my beef against the word is somewhat founded. Still, I face a quandary. How often am I harming my stories by using a fancier alternative? Apparently my proclivity is not rare among this generation’s new storytellers. In my Oxford American thesaurus for writers I discovered a warning that the creative ways we folks avoid repetition makes the tags jump off the page. That’s not good, either. These little verbs should blend in behind the all-important character exchange except when portraying something specific regarding the speaker, the listener, or their situation.
The best solution is to just keep writing. Eventually, I’ll come up with a satisfactory balance. So I have to ask, what do you have to say? Is my obsession founded or is it flotsam?
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Thursday Thirteen
Feeling spontaneous? Welcome! Improvisation is the point of Thursday Thirteen.