Monthly Archives: February 2014

Down the Writing Rabbit Hole

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I want to be an author.

I write. A lot. But I don’t write things for anyone other than myself and one or two other people to see. Even just sharing  a silly fairy tale that’s inspired by a video game was not exactly easy for me. I want to write a book someday, and I have an idea for one, but like so many other people, I don’t have much to show for it, other than a thousand pages of writing that I don’t want to share with anyone.

This isn’t a post complaining about writing though. This is a post about one of my favorite side effects of writing, which are the rabbit holes I fall into as I’m trying to write. One minute I’m trying to describe how something smells and then two hours later I’m reading about how turpentine is made. And that’s one of the more normal things that I’ve randomly started researching because of writing. I should keep a journal of all the things I’ve read about because I bet there’s some good inspiration there. Off the top of my head I can remember reading about:

  • Voodoo
  • old names for illnesses and diseases (For example, phnemonia being called lung fever)
  • eleuthero
  • the can-can dance
  • snake oil
  • sled dogs
  • ice ages
  • chiengora (dog fur wool)
  • Montreal
  • horses
  • falconry
  • deer
  • holistic medicine
  • Iceland
  • biodomes
  • birds native to China
  • replacement knee surgery

Seriously, looking at that list makes me feel crazy. And that’s just a small sampling of all the crap I’ve read about, just to write stories that are intended for no one but myself! This is probably part of why I haven’t started that book I want to write yet. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of research I’ll end up doing to write a convincing story.

I need to get over that.

A Picture of Running

I run.

Okay, I haven’t been fantastic about actually getting out and running for the past few months, but once I get myself running, I’m much happier. One of my favorite things about running these days is having my iPhone with me. I love the sense of accomplishment I get from using Runkeeper or listening to the story of Zombies, Run! I like having my music with me, or sometimes a podcast or audiobook, depending on my mood. But strangely, what I like most of all is having the camera on my phone.

It started when I would finish logging a run with Runkeeper. There’s an option to snap a picture once your run is complete, which I think is cool. I like the idea of having an album of my activity. After that, I would start to look for things to take pictures of as I ran, noticing things about my town that I wouldn’t have otherwise while just driving around. Somewhere in the midst of the run, when my breathing has evened out and my legs seem to move on their own, my mind has an interesting clarity and sees art in everything. I enjoy finding art during my runs so much that instead of running there and back, I run my full distance and then walk home, snapping pictures as I go of the things I found beautiful along the way.

Some of these pictures are old, but I like sharing them all the same:

When a hurricane hit my town, the boardwalk had to be rebuilt. This is from when it was in progress.
I always worry when I see helicopters flying over the beach.
I am ever so jealous of these people who own both a vintage beetle and bus. VW Love!
Our beaches might not be the most beautiful in the world, but we still have pretty skies.
I don’t know why I liked this so much, but I did. It was a cloudy day and a very rusty fire hydrant. I bet I could make an awesome emo cd cover out of this.
Running along a canal near my brother’s place.
I was listening the the Zombies, Run! app when I took this. Doesn’t take much to convince me that I’m running through a post-apocalyptic world.
They had a fair along the boardwalk this fall. It almost made me feel like I was on a traditional boardwalk again.
The boardwalk is finished and it’s my favorite place to run, especially in the off months when it’s quiet.