He was about 34 or 35 and certain that he could stump my ability to write about anything.
I told him I almost never take a bet I can’t win and then we launched into a few minutes of me putting out a random stream of thoughts about anything and everything.
Told him if I wanted to I could write about complimenting a woman on her legs and lips and how it was ignored.
He said that was probably because she wasn’t interested and I said that was patently false, she absolutely was interested but circumstance complicated things so she didn’t want to admit it.
That led us to a place where I pulled quotes from three Beatles songs and wrote about 600 words (not including lyrics) about it all. Wasn’t my best work but by the time it was done I had integrated everything into a something that was relatively coherent.
“How did you do that?”
“Are you aware that I have a BA in Journalism and that I was the Editor-in-Chief of my high school and college newspapers? Do you know I was employed as a writer on more than one occasion?”
He looked at me and told me I had been unfair and I laughed.
“Not at all. You had a preconceived notion of who I am. I set you up by starting with a compliment of body parts because you were certain about what direction it was going in. When I said they came second and that I was driven by intelligence and heart it blew things up, now didn’t it.”
He gave me a sheepish grin and told me it was unfair. I paraphrased Thomas Edison and said there were no rules, we were trying to get something done.
“Sometimes people hear what they want to hear, myself included. You have to take a breath, look at what they do as well as what they say and then proceed.”
The piece he saw wasn’t close to the standards I set for myself so I deleted it.
That is what happens when your words…SUCK.
Sometimes I find some nuggets of gold or at least veins of silver I can mine and reuse. I didn’t like the flow and couldn’t feel the rhythm so that was enough to send pixels screaming into the ether.
The definition of good writing is subjective.
I am not referring to whether it is structurally sound and grammatically correct because that is a technical skill that anyone can master.
This is about what makes you want to read and keep reading. What makes you pay for a book or short story is rarely based upon whether the writer can spell.
Hell, some stories are filled with made up words and phrases that cannot be defined or corrected because the writer created them.
Some of you will demand I share the aforementioned Beatles songs and lyrics so before we move on, here you go.
But still they lead me back
To the long winding road
You left me standing here
A long, long time ago
Don’t keep me waiting here
Lead me to your doorAnd in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you makeEverybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
“The deeper you go, the higher you fly
The higher you fly, the deeper you go
So come on, come on
Come on, it’s such a joy, come on, it’s such a joy
Come on, let’s make it easy, come on, let’s take it easy”
For those of you who missed a post here you can find it by clicking on this link. If you are looking for the others well you know how to find those cuz I gave you the damn URLS.
I am fired up now because I made the mistake of fighting with fools. Skipped by a couple of ridiculous comments and then something else lit my fuse and I went back.
It was dumb and a waste of energy. I set off a half dozen people and the end result will not serve me in any way.
Probably didn’t change the minds of anyone I was engaged with and probably didn’t make any allies.
Let silly frustration drive me for a moment and for what? Didn’t win any awards, gain any benefit or net a positive return on my time.
Going to delete the email responses as they come in and let it go. Let them think they ran me off and they won.
Not my nature to do that and the truth is I sometimes enjoy this stupidity. But I made a promise to myself to minimize this sort of engagement.
It is like eating a dozen donuts in one sitting. Starts out feeling ok but by the end you are stuffed and feeling sick.
No more putting my head in the sick bed.
***
That picture above makes me smile. It is not nearly busy enough but it provides a rough snapshot of my head, especially when I am writing.
Got 83,093 different ideas and images floating around that I try to sift through, sort and apply to the page.
When it works well it is magic and when it doesn’t, well it sucks.
Not the most descriptive or best word to use, but I am distracted now so it will have to do.
