Comfortable with being uncomfortable

Unintended break

There was a time when I was comfortable not having written anything for years. Lately, I am uncomfortable if I haven't written anything for a few days. But sometimes, circumstances dictate what we are able to do. Since I haven't set aside any specific time to write, I didn't. Consider it a vacation of sorts, to gather information and change direction.

I also had a change in my work schedule that put me on third shift. I am a night person anyway, as we've established, but it doesn't bode well for me writing, which has mostly taken place on sleepless nights. Since I am not really a daytime person and working at nights seems to take a little more out of me, I have been sleeping more than usual. If you've ever worked at night, you'll understand. Most people don't. But I do have some nights off and as I get acclimated to this time adjustment I imagine that I'll be writing again somewhat more often.

Taking stock

I've still been thinking a lot though. I never stop. It's what keeps me from enjoying any regular sleep. Much of that time has been spent looking at the stories I can tell. I'm no Jack Kerouac and I've discovered that I really don't have anything extraordinary to share. The story about my Dad passing away is about the best I can muster. Hopefully I will be able to post an updated and revised story on the anniversary of when I lost him (which, incidentally, is 22 years ago this week.)

I have four ideas that I need to develop now, a few based in some part on my own personal experiences. But again, they're rather pedestrian, because my life has been fairly ordinary to this point. Which isn't to say that I haven't had a wonderful and enjoyable life, but nothing so grand as to get anyone to particularly stand up and take notice.

I think it's time to step out of my comfort zone. Time to embellish some facts, take some literary license, and create some fantastic fiction. Or perhaps it's time to make an old idea new again.

Reincarnation

There are very few truly original ideas. I often tell my daughter that everything has already been done. That doesn't mean that there is no benefit in a revamped idea. There are countless stories of magical children, not just Harry Potter and Narnia. Hunger Games? A more engaging story than Running Man (1987) but essentially the same premise. The movie Rat Race was thoroughly entertaining, but go watch It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Same thing. Romantic comedies are basically all the same. Every baseball movie is about a comeback or some tortured individual, because everybody loves an underdog, somebody to root for. My editor is rooting for me not to end another sentence with a preposition.

So the time has come to re-invent myself...in a way. Time to tell the stories that I was meant to tell, embellish a little, use my imagination, follow the road not taken, and in some cases, flat out lie. I have to be willing to whatever it takes in order to sell the story and discover the writer's life that I've always wanted. Then maybe I'll abandon this blog, or pass it along...to another Incomplete Writer.