There and Back Again...

OK, after yesterday I was feeling pretty funky about my writing and life in general. I spent the day in bed, caught up on reading and watched back episodes of The L Word on demand. I set a serious deadline for my current work in progress, but the actual work part has been much slower than I planned. I'm okay with that. The words flow in dribbles--like the way an old man with prostate trouble pees. But if that's what it takes to make the characters come to life in my head, I'm willing to take my time.

Tonight was karate--again. It was good. I worked up a sweat, ran through the forms and drills, and for once didn't feel like the odd man out. My kids have studied karate for over a year and are much more advanced than me. I plug away like the steam engine that could. Sometimes I just don't get it and I ask for help and I work 'til I attain perfection. There's nothing like going to class and finally being able to do it right. If only that worked for everything!

Now, I'm spending time with Dexter, enjoying the unfolding drama. If you don't watch the show and you have cable, give it a try--even if it is just once. The premise and writing are compelling. That's what I hope to attain, not a TV show, but the kind of writing that draws an audience repeatedly. I don't want to be the kind of writer that offers a one-time bit of entertainment. I want to be the writer who draws the reader back time after time. The same way I feel the need to revisit Poe, Dumas and Tolkien. The same way I slip into the Burg to visit with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum characters. Isn't it amazing how some writers just make you feel the moment, the story, the adventure?

I am an escapist by nature. From the time I was able to read (age 2), I climbed into books to get away from being the outsider. For the couple hours I spent with the author's characters I transcended my own reality and was catapulted into a new world. I can't begin to express how wonderful it felt to be the hero who set wrongs to right or the adventurer who took on a quest and found himself. I still have the hardest time thinking about Frodo's journey without crying--not because it was tragic, but because it has to come to an end. I always sink into a bit of depression when I finish a book--like I've lost my best friends, because for however much time I spent with these fictional people, they were my friends.

I don't believe there is anything such as a new story. People have inhabited the planet too long for that. I do believe, however, that we have new ways of telling a tale. No matter how many times I read one of Julie Garwood's historicals, entering with the full knowledge that I will meet a strong woman who stumbles into a relationship with Mister, Viscount, Marquess Right, I know that their story will be unique. An experience that I couldn't have with any other character. Their view of the world is what will spark laughter when I can't find funny in my mundane life and will inspire tears when their weariness threatens to tear them apart. That is writing!

Who do you read when you need to escape?