Escape From Planet Earth

The last week I've been putting in a lot of time in escapist entertainment. Part of that is because I've fallen in love with a fictional character, Walter Bishop on "Fringe". So I've been obsessively watching that. And I think when I'm done with all five series I'll start over. There's also all the old Doctor Who to catch up on, as I didn't pay much attention the first times around and I adore David Tennant. Thank gods for catalogued series. David is my Doctor!!

The book-buying binge has come home to roost. The stack next to my bed rose to an alarming 14 'stories' high (hehe) so I'm spending all my "feet up" time with the many waiting my attention. I've just finished Carol Miller's autobio about being a NYC dj back in the day (way less informative than you'd think). Now I'm onto Shout, the Beatles' story, which Paul gave me for my birthday. That one starts tonight.

When I have more of a framework than I do, I've another story brewing in my head and that'll want writing. This story actually scares me, and for no good reason. It's not horror, it's not out of my nightmares. I don't know why it's giving me agita but it is.

Meanwhile, the children's mystery book that I lost in the last computer doesn't want to be rewritten. I've taken notes so that if it ever does want to be written again they're ready. Writing is a weird thing. I can't seem to make myself write the way they say you have to, not on the subject anyway. I can write anytime, but there's no guarantees 'cause it'll go off somewhere that I never planned and may have nothing at all to do with the material I was supposed to work on.

GRR Martin says he heard there are 2 kinds of writers, architects and gardeners. Architects plan things- like the way we're told Jo Rowling wrote Potter, by sketching out chapters and events all the way to conclusion before proceeding to write the story. Then there's the writers like him -and me- who just start writing and see where it goes. I love when events occur and characters do things out of nowhere, seemingly independent of my hand or mind altogether. That's the whole joyous adventure of writing fiction to me.

One thing I do know now is that writing fiction is what I want to do. We live in a very harsh and nasty world these days. As much as I watch and read stories, I like creating them, more. We all need some escape, and if I can escape in work, so much the better. Maybe someday it'll make my life better in a big way, rather than the distracting entertainment it gives me now.