I'm writing stories while the world burns. It's what I do. I send money to organizations and politicians. I vote every damn time. I recycle, drive a hybrid, and contemplate getting solar panels installed over the garage.
And I write.
Because I want people to care more. And to take action. To rise up. To not put up with so much bullshit and greed and intolerance. To love more, hate less. To laugh a little. To dream a lot. To connect to their fellow human beings. To our fellow human beings. To my fellow human beings. When a writer-- at least this writer-- uses their in the context above, it usually means "my".
I write to inspire myself to be a better human being. To think more. Ask More questions. Express more of what I keep inside. To let it all hang out, and once out, dance about the room in strange gyrations.
I need to. It makes me happy and healthy. I don't give a shit if I never make another dime writing. Well, I do, but even if I didn't ever get paid again for doing this, I would do it, because it feeds my soul, heals my pain, leads me down better paths, less trod and with flowers.
I write as the world burns so I can deal with the fact that the world is burning.
There was a storm the other night, as I was driving home from Boulder, that blew my mind. Lightning on a constant rotation, striking every few seconds, for a good ten minutes. I've never seen anything like it in my life.
That can't be good.
A lot of people still steadfastly support the Orange One, like deranged, damaged lemmings.
Also not good.
So I write a story about a town that is losing its mind and a young woman who fights for them against the forces of darkness.
Not only is it a good story, it helps me. Gives me hope.
Hope is the other thing with feathers.
That's all I have to say today. I write to feel good, to deal with madness, and to express whatever needs to be expressed at a given moment.
Yes, I follow structure and infuse it with humor and action and all those things Aristotle thought made a good story.
But mainly, I fill it with my soul.
Here's a song. It's Soul Man by The Blues Brothers.
