Hidden Meanings and Pensive Prose, and blah blah blah...

I love a good piece of writing that makes me think. 

That makes my mind churn days, weeks, years after reading, and will make me never forget it because I still don't understand it (cue Inception, Interstellar.) 

I admire people that can fit beautiful and heartbreaking ideas into extended metaphors like a bird flying in the sky or something a bit more ordinary yet equally abstract like a figurative key only to unlock one's mental secret... I think it's fascinating people are creative and ingenious enough to think through every word and make everything have a purpose. 

I used to think that writing ought to be like that. With a complex plot hidden and woven behind intricate and mysterious details, a higher plot in the horizon with deep metaphors. 

And then I realized there was nothing wrong with being in the comfort zone. 

I read a piece that mentioned staying in the comfort zone, but I forgot which piece. All I remember is this epiphany that I, like so many others, strive to be outside my comfort zone by pushing myself, challenging myself, to explore different ways to write my fiction, my stories, as "professionally" as I could. I didn't realize how satisfying it was to just sit, and write. No fancy tone, voice, play on words, play on metaphors. Just the raw, human emotions and the page. 

One story I read about the shooting at the University of Ohio was just that. Yet it was so much more, and explored all the human emotions and deeper topics without trying. (Although the space stuff got a little iffy for me.) 

So I'm trying not to get caught up with the idea that people who write mind-boggling stories are somehow "better" authors than those who write memoirs about their lives. Sometimes, simple is beautiful. 

Obligations and Justifications

In my creative writing class last semester, we read a piece by David Sedaris, "Repeat After Me." The main premise was Sedaris at a crossroads between his obligation to his sister's privacy and his obligation as a writer to pen and publish good stories.
A similar conflict rose in Gossip Girl (I know it's an old show, I have a lot of catching up to do...)
Besides all the love triangles and drama, there was a subplot about a character publishing an almost biography-like story (twisted creative non-fiction names, etc.) about one of his classmates in order to gain stature and fame. The classmate explicitly asked him not to write about his story, just like Sedaris' sister asked him not to write about what she told him (I'm not sure if he ever did,) but it brings up the question of whether we as authors have any justification for publishing what happens in others' lives, whether they grant us permission or not. Where is the ethical boundary?

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/277/apology/act-one

SNOW DAY

Desert girl meets snow.
For the second or third time, actually, since I've played with snow somewhere in the vague roots of my memory. The crunch against my rain boots, numb fingers and toes, perfectly shaved snow balls, I had forgotten the whole experience.

Seeing it in person isn't the same as going on Google Images. Online may find more pure and untouched nature, but in-person, it's pure in your heart. The trees. White trees, white sky, white window panes. Magical.

Happy Playoff Season

My dad didn’t believe that Alabama kicker Pappanastos would miss that game-winning field-goal.
Alabama won anyways, so I guess it didn’t matter.
Besides, having the game go into overtime was more thrilling. And, after that missed field-goal, my sister and I yelled for a good, long 30 seconds while clapping our hands.
(We were rooting for Georgia, kinda.)

Still, I was never a big fan of college football. For some reason, I always thought they were “try-hards” and thought they were so good. Dad wanted to watch the game though, and I guess I got invested, like any football game I watch despite which teams are playing.

Happy pro-football playoff season. Even though the Cardinals aren’t in, doesn’t mean I’m not invested. Good football is good football, and I can appreciate the Titans’ messy comeback and basically everybody trying to take down the Patriots. Grr.
I’m rooting for the Eagles and Falcons. I feel bad about Carson Wentz, and the Falcons’ showdown last year was just horrible. Maybe a Falcons vs. Patriots rematch?

Flash Fic

A friend gave me this coloring journal a while ago but I haven't really picked it up till recently. I found it's a good way, other than just eating or sleeping or watching TV, to actually take a break and relax. 

"all the cracked and broken bits make you stunning" 

All the quotes are incredibly motivating and the pictures are beautiful. Each quote is accompanied by one page of empty lines. I wanted to do a drawing and a story a day, but decided nobody had enough time for that. Either way, I'm challenging myself to one story per one page. It's incredibly difficult given there's only 29 or so lines, and sometimes I cheat by splitting one line into two. I've already tried some and really think it's fun, short, little commitment, and very challenging. I'm forced to think about packing human emotions and making the reader care instantly. I was thinking about compiling all of them into a little anthology maybe, if I ever finish