My Writer’s Journal
What I learned about writing and myself today.
It’s one thing to write about the end of the world, to contemplate the many ways it could happen and who could bring it about.
It’s an entire different kettle of fish when you actually want it done for no other reason then you have decided it would be best for all involved if somebody grabbed a roque mallet and went Jack Torrance on the world.
The world is not a perfect place and all of the yelling and screaming and threats and self righteous rants won’t make it so.
I learned that from training my dog.
If you yell all of the time or step on their paws or slap their noses or hit them with water from a spray bottle when they don’t obey you, they get to the point to where they hide every time you raise your voice for any reason at all.
In my writing none of my antagonists are angry.
They don’t screed and yell and reach down into someone’s throat and rip their tongues out just to shut someone up.
They don’t jab their fingers into anyone eyes and pull their eyeballs out of their sockets and stamp them into a gooey mess because someone doesn’t see the world the way they do.
They don’t wave their boney fingers under someone’s nose and then jam it up into their nostrils and pull their brains out because someone doesn’t think the way they do.
My monsters, the dark and twisted souls in my stories understand they are imperfect creatures living in an imperfect world.
Despite all of their imperfections and the imperfections around them they find a way to thrive.
We should all be so lucky.
Today I ate a bunch of cookies.
I used to hate cookies.
Today
I learned to enjoy sweetness.
