I'm in a raft, desperately paddling upstream, against rough currents. With each stroke of the paddle, more water fills the raft. Just when I think I've made a little progress, passed that huge rapid, the raft flips, and I'm drowning. -edit-This is what writing is like for me. Each paragraph I put down and think I've made some progress, I look back through and realize I actually did drown. I'm dead. But I miraculously rise from the dead somehow and start it all over again.
15. You have a friend, lover, s.o., parent, whomever--and you have a magic potion. Once they take it they will tell you the absolute truth for one minute. Who do you give it to and what do they say?
My sister is 3 years older than me, and since I came into this world, we have been night and day compared to each other. She is now going on 32, still living with my mother, has never dated, has never ventured out into the world, has never experienced life. She is currently making going to college a career. She has never had her license, has no real desire to learn to drive, and, quite frankly, controls my mothers life. She's got some issues. Some I can put my finger on, others I can't. If there were some magic potion or pill that I could give anyone to get the truth out of them, I think it would be her. Trying to even approach the topic of her 'lifestyle' or lack there of, or her plans for the future, or what she is doing to our mother, causes a total nuclear meltdown. Tears, screaming, the works. It turns into 'everyone hates her, no one loves her or even likes her'. The whole woe is me routine. I'd really like to know what is actually going on inside her head, because all the facade and crocodile tears do is make me question her mental stability. Really, at what point to you accept responsibility for yourself, and stop holding everyone else accountable for the way your life is? At what point is a parent no longer required to provide and care for you when you are fully capable of doing it yourself?
16. Somebody just offered me the chance to get paid for gassing on about one of my favorite topics: dogs. What would you like to be paid to talk about?
Brad and I always have little squabbles over the most trivial things. One that reoccurs a lot in particular is opinions. Brad, being a culinary student, is under the belief that a chef with Michelin stars, world renowned, is a good chef. I always argue that regardless of how many stars he gets, there is the chance that I could sit down in his restaurant, eat some of his food, and be unimpressed or even straight out dislike it. He thinks my palette is 'unrefined', and by that he means, I haven't 'forced' myself to enjoy the taste of certain foods. he constantly brings up how he 'hated' grapefruit juice, but forced himself to drink it until he eventually came to like it. I just don't work that way. I don't care how pretty it looks on the plate, you can make me eat sushi every day for a year, and though I may eventually stop feeling the need to vomit after consuming it, I will still HATE it at the years end. This isn't me being unrefined, this is me knowing what tastes good to me, and what does not. It's like art. Some people can look at Van Gogh or Monet, and think it is amazing masterpieces. Others can look at it and shake their head, thinking it is utter crap. It is all personal opinion. No matter how well a critic rates something, it is there personal opinion as well. And just because they have traveled the world and critiqued many a thing, does not make them the most qualified to tell me what is best. That is for me to decide. I don't discredit anyone else's opinion, but I expect to be allowed to form my own.
16--I like the way you go off on a rant about Brad and sushi and grapefruit juice. That's the ticket, that's what the prompt begs for: not an answer to the question but the writer going on a rant. The more of that the better.
ReplyDeleteDo you see how you lost heart after the rant and began a different, more conventional piece about everyone being entitled to their opinion?
So more ranting and less explaining? I had plenty to continue ranting on about, but figured I shouldn't go overboard.
DeleteGrapefruit juice is the fucking nectar of the gods, goddammit.
DeleteMore ranting, less explaining. Ranting is the fucking nectar of the writing gods, at least to start with....
DeleteI can do that. lol
DeleteAh, but rambling is also a fault. Or at least it is for me? Perhaps some sort of hybrid between our writing styles is called for. Mmmmm...grapefruit juice.
Delete15--here's the nut of the piece, the kernal and core: "Trying to even approach the topic of her 'lifestyle' or lack there of, or her plans for the future, or what she is doing to our mother, causes a total nuclear meltdown. Tears, screaming, the works. It turns into 'everyone hates her, no one loves her or even likes her'."
ReplyDeleteBut instead of dramatizing it, quoting it, instead of giving us the meltdown, you tell us about it. See the difference?
So, I should have quoted?
DeleteQuoted, dramatized--certainly. The oldest writing teacher cliche is 'don't tell us, show us.'
DeleteI'm trying to make your comparison of writing and paddling follow through consistently. How about ending it this way:
ReplyDelete"This is what writing is like for me. Each paragraph I put down and think I've made some progress, I look back through and realize I actually did drown. I'm dead. But I miraculously rise from the dead somehow and start it all over again."
Works for me. I'm no writer, so my wording isn't always going to be up to par.
DeleteI didn't mean it like that, like I could improve your wording because you're "no writer." It's a comment on the ending; I could have just said, 'The ending doesn't quite match the opening, doesn't follow through with the original comparison.
ReplyDeleteInstead of telling, I showed.