I Was a Weird Kid

Surprised, are you? Neither am I. I mean "weird" is probably relative, but I think there were probably only a handful of kids growing up in the 90s and 00s (unless we're talking 1890s) who thought it would be cool to wear spurs to school. I never did wear spurs, so I guess I was a reluctant weirdo, but I still thought it would be awesome to hear the ching - ching - ching of the spur as I walked the halls.

I also realized though, that I would probably accidentally slice my own shin with the spur and then bleed and cry all over the place.


So along with wishing I was a cowboy,

my overactive imagination also resulted in (and still does to this day) worst case scenario fears. If that didn't make me a really weird kid, then I don't know what make kids really weird. Seriously.

As a kid I also wore a lot of flannel.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ryj

Okay, so it was "in fashion" at the time, but I probably should not have worn it every day. I just really liked flannel, and once pj pants became "fashionable" in school I could match my flannel shirts with my flannel pj pants. I don't think schools should have ever let kids wear pj pants, but it definitely made my school days more comfortable!

Either way, wearing a flannel "suit" (essentially) probably made me look like quite the lumberjack.

Eventually, all the flannel in my wardrobe made its way to the Goodwill store and I lived free of flannel dreams and spur nightmares. That doesn't mean that after all these years I don't still wish I was a cowboy and a few flannel shirts haven't made it back into my closet.

I guess some weirdness just can't be escaped. Then again, wanting to be a cowboy and looking like a lumberjack is probably only the beginning of my weirdness...

Dialogue Between Books

I read something really interesting lately that suggested that all books written, all books being written and all books that will be written in the future are in dialogue with one another.  I think this is very true. When I write my own novels I see how stories I've read before help craft my own stories. I see how I respond to characters I've read about either positively or negatively with my own characters. I see myself combat similar scenarios and find new outcomes. I mean, where would literature be now without the classics to learn from and to build off of? And where will books be in the future without the work people are coming up with today?

Consider the books you've read and see if there is a bit of a "call and response" there. And consider the stuff you're writing, what are you saying about what's come before and what are you saying to what will come in the future?