Only another writer would understand

[pbray]

After starting off the day with a few hours of work for the corporate overlords, I then ignored the threatening clouds and went for a ride. About halfway through the route, I heard that grinding sound that accompanies a bad shift when you've failed to properly gear down before a long climb. I looked around, startled to realize that yes, I was indeed starting the climb up Reynolds Road, and not only that, but I had been in my highest gear and thus had killed all my momentum.

I was surprised not by my ineptness but because for the last couple of miles I hadn't been on my bike, I'd been in a fantasy kingdom, contemplating the intricacies of dynastic politics. So lost had I been in my own invented world it was a shock to find myself back in this one.

Shaking off my surprise, I managed to gear down without undue stress on the chain and make it up the hill. I then kept one eye on the road while the rest of me returned back to the story world until I'd plotted out an appropriate solution to my character's current dilemma. It's the kind of thing only another writer would get--our stories not only have the ability to transport our readers to other places, sometimes they even transport us. Though preferably not when we're operating motor vehicles.

Came home, cleaned up, and it's time to see if I can get that solution written before break time is over. For most of the country this is a long weekend, but for those who work in finance (or support the databases that finance uses) this is second quarter close, so I'll be working or on call all weekend.

Comments

[karen-w-newton.livejournal.com]

I once left a cart full of groceries at the grocery store, got in my car, and drove home without them, all the while mentally immersed in the plot of my latest story. I sometimes think being a writer is a mild form of mental illness.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I needed a laugh like that today. You're awesome.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Well I haven't quite left groceries at the store, but when asked paper or plastic I once answered "Name must die" which was my current plot dilemma.

The store clerk merely blinked and repeated the question.

[karen-w-newton.livejournal.com]

Good thing your plot didn't focus on a presidential assassination! You could have gotten a call from the Secret Service.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

[difrancis.livejournal.com]

And for those writers on deadline, we'll be writing too.

If I'd been on the bike, I'd probably have been doing something more like what's in your icon. Because when I go to writing land in my head when operating even light machinery . . . people ought to watch out. Sigh.

Yay for untangling the plot knot!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I'm just lucky I didn't run over a small child or bike into the back of a parked van.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

I'd definitely have taken a header. Ouch!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I'm just lucky I didn't space out on one of the pothole infested stretches of road.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I have a notebook and pencil in my handlebar bag and have been known to pull over in order to jot down story ideas.

Of course if you're on a long uphill climb there is no stopping, so I find myself chanting the relevant phrases over and over again, to fix them into my memory until I get an opportunity to write them down.

Then again, my other biking habit is to sing sea chanteys when I'm tired so really the writing brain only qualifies as a minor quirk.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

But, but ... that's what sea chanteys are for -- to help you keep going when you're tired!

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Actually, readers might understand, too. Yesterday morning I went past my bus stop by two, totally without noticing, before I realized anything was amiss -- I was reading, and had just got to a good bit.

This is not the first time it's happened, either :P

[pbray.livejournal.com]

That's well known to happen to NYC editors as well-- it's always a good sign if the manuscript they're reading causes them to miss their subway stop.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see how it would be ;)

One of my friends e-mailed me about halfway through my beta draft to tell me she'd been reading it in Departures and had almost missed her plane. Of course, she's known me since we were six, so she may have been exaggerating...

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I think they used to call it, "day-dreaming!" Or maybe it is a form of self-hpnosis. I know I come up with a lot of plot ideas, scenes, and even dialogue while pushing a sweeper around the tennis courts early in the morning. If I really "get into it" the mental journey to 200 years ago can also make the time spent on the current rather boring and repetitive task fly by.
Have a Happy Fourth!
Dave

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Day dreaming is great for creativity but not so much for maintaining vertical hold while operating machinery :-)

Happy 4th!

[atateatarin.livejournal.com]

Yesss haha. Something that I am usually fighting to avoid, given that my bike is of the engine-driven variety.

Thankfully the weather here is bitterly cold at present; 100kph in winter wind does a good job of shutting down the parts of my mind prone to meandering away from the real world (however much I do really want to depart for warmer pastures at the time!).

It does have its benefits though; I like to walk some places so I'm not entirely reliant on my bike and crossing the paddocks into town is fantastic for my brainstorming :D I don't know if it's just me, but I seem to straighten most of the kinks and plot ideas out while wandering around outside.
Though I once found myself having to sit down in the middle of the grass one day to quickly sketch a story idea that wanted out desperately XD

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Sometimes that change of scenery is all you need to get the plot ideas going. Though bitter cold isn't necessarily the best time-- helps if your hands aren't freezing when you try to record your inspirations :-)