Writing

I have decided to shun Facebook for the month of May.

It's not that I think it is completely worthless, or that it only has a destructive influence, but I do find myself spending an inordinate amount of time, and lending an inordinate amount of importance to staring at my tiny phone screen and composing witty answers to friends' posts.

My answer to that is the occasional detox. I remove the application from my home screen on my phone (so I do not see that tempting little red 1 (or a 4!! OMG a 4!!). And I spend a lot more time reading and writing.

I just finished re-reading Stephen King's book, On Writing. I will admit, here and publicly, that I am a great fan of King. Not only do I enjoy his twisted sense of the macabre, but I find that he is an incredible storyteller and observer of the human condition. He has the reputation among some for being "merely" a pulp fiction writer, fit for airplane rides and guilty pleasure reading. But then, many people also view science fiction literature as vapid tales with no literary value or grounding in the real world (these people have not read the right sci-fi authors ;)

Brilliance and vision are often challenging. We are pushed out of our normal world. The world presented can seem fantastic, and probably in many ways is, but if it is done well, we feel resonance. We recognize ourselves (or someone we know) in the story, and that is when we are pulled in, thrilled, and our minds are ready to experience something new. THAT is good storytelling. And King has it down.

On Writing is not a thrilling tale of the macabre. It is part biography, part writing course, and part motivational speech. King has written about himself, and about the craft of writing. And his writing here as always is engaging, humorous, and natural. I have found myself re-inspired to hone this skill, to view this as a daily practice, then see what comes.

One of my favorite images from this book is one he uses to describe how ideas come. He talks about unearthing fossils. Stories, he argues, are not so much created as they are "found objects." The task of the writer is to tease these delicate bones from the earth with as little casualty as possible. I love this image, and it rings so true for me.

I know the feeling when I have found something to tell, something that I feel deserves to be studied and communicated. I never see it all at once. I see the edge of a tooth jutting from the soil. And I can sense that there is a whole lot more underneath. If the right tools are at hand, the fossil can be unearthed, reconstructed and shown to the amazement and enjoyment of others.

So instead of watching funny animals do tricks and moaning about the weather on Facebook, this month I will spend a little more time at my writing desk.

I am inspired to look, and to dig, and to share what I find. I hope that you will enjoy reading what I unearth. :)