I’m a restless sleeper. Twitchy leg syndrome (if there is such a thing) tends to keep me awake and aware for a fair while...if hubby’s snoring doesn’t! When I do fall asleep, however, it’s the oblivion of the truly exhausted, truly dead or truly drunk- an ‘event’ of epic proportions would probably completely pass me by!
To get to my point: picture this: in bed, all quiet, can’t sleep, start thinking. Feel familiar? Start ‘writing’ in my mind. Compose whole books that way...and forget most of it in the morning. Also familiar?
The upshot is THE ALPHABET CRUCIBLE...and I thought I’d share it with you. If hubby, kids, friends, neighbours...and the neighbours’ cat...allows enough time to sit down and do so...
Read/like all, some, little or none of it, doesn’t matter- nothing serious here!
Let’s kick the crucible off with A is for ATTENTION.
Attention to detail? Argh, not now, not in this. No edits, no structure, just rambling thoughts. Still, hope I have your attention, because...
...B is for BALONEY, BLARNEY, BULLSHIT.
Baloney makes me thing of pink lunch meat and Blarney puts me in mind of the Blarney Stone in Ireland. A Scottish friend asked me a while back if I kissed the Blarney Stone on my travels around the Emerald Isle and I have to admit I didn’t. Wonder now if I would have...hanging out from a hole in a castle wall to kiss a place thousands have left their mark on? Not certain, not at all certain, no.
Now, bullshit: one can write epics. From the actual bull’s shit to the great lies folk tell. Best to toss it into...
...C is for CRUCIBLE, that melting pot that transforms something and something into something else.
Have to smile as I write that. Not only does it make little sense, but while laying in bed and ‘writing’ this I almost chose some other succinct words for C (ruder ones!)...not certain how deeply that would shock you, though. Use your imagination and while you’re at it, consider...
...D is for D***...ha ha ha ha ha!
What exactly are you thinking now??? D is for DOLL! (if someone ever dares calling me ‘doll’, be warned). I’m amazed by how many four letter words I can come up with in a few seconds- damn, dirt, dent- so it’s your mind that’s on a tangent, not mine! In keeping with one-track-mind here...
...E is for EROTIC...no, no, meant EXOTIC! Did too!
Exotic places, exotic names, exotic foods, exotic flowers...the word ‘exotic’ ever conjures tropical, doesn’t it? Is that continuing bias from history, when ships sailed from cold lands sailed into humid ports to discover something exotic? Or do we still today consider tropical lands as new and strange? Maybe. And maybe not.
Personally I’m not big on the tropics- too many bugs and snakes and stuff. My hair frizzes in humidity...and that is to be avoided at all costs!
...F is for FORMALITY.
We use it all the time. Even here, writing to you. No one really knows another, not in everyday life and not across the spaces between us. We choose our words in much the way we choose the format for a manuscript. Why are we so afraid to be ourselves, honestly, truly ourselves? We believe we can achieve that in our writing, but even there we are bound by certain ‘rules’...and thus something is lost. It can be as innocuous as an editor requesting a certain sentence be removed. This may not be a big thing and may even cause greater flow in the tale, and yet...what if that particular string of words actually revealed the real you? (just saying, as Absolution would say!)
Fine, way too serious...let’s lighten it some...
...G is for GURU.
I’m sorry, but the first image that comes to mind is a crazy monkey dancing in a white skirt...heaven knows why! Next to mind is Ghandi...NO, I’M NOT COMPARING GHANDI TO A MONKEY! If you think that, you’re the one in trouble!
(I know I had something extraordinary to say about the concept ‘guru’, but now, the day after, can’t remember...must have snoozed a bit after G...)
...H is for HIS HISTORY HAS HIM HAMSTRUNG.
Alliteration out of hand...because it’s...well, because...don’t need a reason.
...I is for INK.
This puts me in mind of the days before I owned a computer. Much longhand on scrap paper because the writing bug had bitten. Lots of coffee, then and now and always!
...J is for JELLYBEANS.
When the coffee gets too much, jellybeans are a great substitute! No one here likes the black ones...and thus I end up with a host of them. Of course, that depends on...
...K is for KLEPTOMANIA...the jellybean thieves!
...L is for LAW...which I cannot seem to lay down to the sweet stealers!
...M is for MUSE.
Laying in the dark, this seemed an obvious choice for M...and now has me stumped. Again (strange how the mind works), I have forgotten my great exposition on the word ‘muse’. Of course, there’s a lot to say, but I want to remain true to the night-time creative spurt and not now attempt to say something I didn’t think then. ( it had something to do with Poppet and her muse...)
And that’s the first 13 in the crucible. Tune in later for part 2!
Having fun with this
Elaina
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