Disturbing Trends

*This is an old post, from back when no one read my blog. I thought it was worth digging out of the archives. Ignore the reference to thirty-degree whether, as it was written in winter.*

I noticed a few things today that seem to be emerging trends with me, and are really quite bothersome. Some writing related, some not. Here goes:


- Inspiration tends to strike in the wee hours of the morning.
Case in point, an idea for a new story started rolling around in my head this morning, around 4:30 a.m. At that hour, I have neither the energy nor coherence to get up and start writing. Plus I risk waking up my husband, who will start talking to me, thereby derailing my train of thought entirely. Seriously, "the brilliance" couldn't have waited until 4:00 p.m., when I suddenly found myself with nothing to do at work? Which, interestingly enough, is the perfect segue to disturbing trend # 2:

- I am almost never near my home computer when I get a really great (totally subjective, I know) idea. I wind up whipping scraps of paper out of my purse in the middle of the grocery store, just to be sure I don't lose an image or a witty bit of dialogue. Or, when I'm lucky, I will type out a page or two at work before someone needs me to do the actual work I was hired for (imagine!). Then I e-mail it to myself at home, knowing the IT nazis are probably reading my sent files and wondering WTF my deal is. Especially when I've just written a kissing scene. Oh, how I would love to see the look on their meddlesome little faces!

- Number three is that I can be madly in love with an idea when I first start outlining it. Then, without fail, the self-doubt sets in. The nagging little devil on my shoulder starts telling me it will never be good enough, that I must be on crack to keep wasting my time this way. I convince myself I'm writing the dumbest story conceivable, with the stupidest characters and the worst plot ever. Yet, all the while, the angel on the other shoulder tells me to keep plugging, damn it. So I do.

- Number four: My main characters are always prettier than me. And I'm kind of jealous of them. But this is part of why I read, and why I write: to escape the boring, average parts of my life. This includes the way I look. I wouldn't go as far as to say I scare small children, but I'm no great beauty, either. Just average. See?

So I suppose it only makes sense that when I escape reality, it's in the form of a girl who's much more attractive, with far juicier drama infiltrating her life. And boys fighting over her, which never happens to me. Ok, it did, once. Tee hee. Ahem... But should I really get pissy when I look in the mirror and haven't morphed into these girls? Yeah, that's where the disturbing comes in.


And lastly... a thought on an ACTUAL trend. While I was grocery shopping this evening, I saw not one, but TWO high school age girls wearing SHORTS with their Ugg boots. SHORT shorts. Ummm... it's thirty degrees outside right now. What are they thinking? And what are their PARENTS thinking, letting them go out like that? Am I old fashioned, or is it really acceptable to walk around looking like a hoochie mama for the sake of a fashion trend? It makes me wonder if I'm too out of touch with high school to be writing about it. But guess what? I'm going to anyway, damn it!

As always, if anyone stops by, I would love to hear about your disturbing trends, too!