The Process

Hemingway wrote 100 pages of material and would throw away 99 of them. Maya Angelou writes in a hotel room bed, with a bottle of wine and a bible. There are no paintings on the walls. Mark Twain wrote for up to twelve hours a day in solitude. Hunter S. Thompson said he has no memory of ever writing a word. J K Rowlings wrote in a cafe on legal pads. Stephanie Meyer holds her breathe until she passes out and then writes. I like to write on a couch with a movie playing in the background, or while listening to classical music - Beethoven preferred. I drink coffee which constantly needs reheating because I forget about it.
 
STORIES.

I know too many weird people. Generally speaking, this should be a good thing. There are so many dull un-weird people out there that any chance to meet the weird ones should be viewed as a blessing. And when I say weird, I don't mean that bland conversational "deviation from the norm" kind of weird, I mean they are crazier than a shithouse rat in the summer time. Loons, wack jobs, "those beyond medication", the misfit toys... people who need to be reminded to breathe because they often forget to do so. I embrace these souls, these weird friends and acquaintances. I'm lucky that I have so many of them in my life. Now... Having said that, I also need to say that I am also cursed - or blessed, depending - with an incredible memory for detail. This means I get to remember everything. Even the things I wished I could forget. On the good side, I can tell the tales that would have otherwise been lost. On the bad side, I can tell the tales that should have otherwise been lost.


All of my short stories come from a true story stuck in my mind, which I can never seem to bring up in a casual conversation. Some things are just too unbelievable, or they are too complex, and the easiest way for me to tell the story is to mask it in a fictional wrapper. I change some of the names, or the dates, or even a location or two and voila - it's a palatable story everyone wants to hear. Not every story in my head can be put on the page so they make brief appearances as back stories for my supporting characters in other grander stories.


So my stories are fictionalized stories about me, my friends, my feelings or the dreams I left behind.

POSTS.

I started writing the Facebook posts as a writing exercise. When I started posting them, Facebook only let you write 450 "characters." So word choice was optimal. I would write something and if it was too long Facebook would give me a warning box giving me the character count and telling me to trim it down to 450. It was an excellent exercise in editing. Then Facebook started allowing longer posts and things got carried away. Sadly, some of my favorite writing is on that site but I'm too lazy to sift through two posts a day for five years to find them.

I write better under pressure and I'm lacking in a project now because I have nothing pushing me to finish. This means lots of time to BLOG. Blogging is my way of pushing myself to finish something twice a day just to keep my mind sharp. It's not going to be rich Story writing or quipping Facebook writing.

The stories of those I know, those are the stories I want to finish. A crazy soldier of fortune, A woman who worked for an escort service. A girl who forgot to wear a particular part of her cheerleading outfit worn under the skirt to a basketball game and ended up looking like she was on drugs because she wouldn't leap or jump. A woman who spent time working with Prince and Phyllis Diller, though not at the same time. A man who has died three times in his life, twice on purpose. A man who has slept with over two thousand women and a thousand men. A woman who was raised as a slave. The woman who has slept with over two hundred famous rock stars and collects molds of their cocks. A man who likes to wipe boogers in women's hair. A woman who finished medical school and won the lottery in the same month.


It's not all rambling...

It's what Hemingway would have done.