What's up?
Tonya set coffee, juice and water on the printed paper placemat in front of me and said, "What's up with you, Erik?"
"Not much," I replied.
"Me neither. Same-o, same-o," Tonya said.
Tonya walked away from my table to place an order for what she would decide to be my breakfast today. I watched her walking toward the kitchen and said to myself, "That conversation really sucked!"
I didn't have anything interesting to talk about and Tonya didn't have anything interesting to talk about. Her day would likely change toward the interesting, mine likely wouldn't. Unless, of course, I made it change.
So, what's up with you folks today?
"Not much," I replied.
"Me neither. Same-o, same-o," Tonya said.
Tonya walked away from my table to place an order for what she would decide to be my breakfast today. I watched her walking toward the kitchen and said to myself, "That conversation really sucked!"
I didn't have anything interesting to talk about and Tonya didn't have anything interesting to talk about. Her day would likely change toward the interesting, mine likely wouldn't. Unless, of course, I made it change.
So, what's up with you folks today?
posted by Erik Ivan James | 7:44 AM
10 Comments:
Didn't.
Conversation's real.
Clicking my e-mail every five minutes, flipping my bottom lip, avoiding real work.
Just workin'. About to go jogging.
What's up. Um. First, breakfast. I got up at 4 and it's already 10:30. I've only had small snacks, getting really HUNGRY.
Went and read - carefully - the outline for Avie...now I'm feeling like I've messed up the rewrite because I got a buncha different events all mashed into the first chapter, and I don't have enough backstory.
And then I think again about the admonitions to Show, not Tell, and I gotta figure out how to make him show the backstory in his talking to himself.
I may have chosen a harder POV than I thought. But then, that's the way **I** think - by talking to myself. So: we'll see what my mind produces, after eating.
Okay, Erik, that and forgiving myself for NOT having my nose to the grindstone. My beak is sharp enough already...
Bernita,
Keep on clickin' and a flippin' Dear Gal. Soon, me thinks.......
Samdra,
You're always workin'. Doesn't jogging irritate you back problem?
Forrest,
Don't forget the fishin'.
Something came in on my email:
"While you were out f*cking around..."
Hubby took the day off work and we finished up phase one of the great bathroom makeover.
Other than that I haven't written on my book since Monday. I'm kicking myself.
Ivan,
Well, I hope that whatever came into your email is good news. Thanks for stopping by.
Jaye,
"great bathroom makeover", ain't they awful. We need to accomplish one....as in, total makeover.
I've been thinkin' about your breakfast conversation. Just how blah was it?
It wasn't. It was normal, everyday, usual. It's what passes for conversation these days. There just isn't the time for long rambles or divergences. There's only the quick acknowledgment of the other, and it's on to the next item. So the talk is truncated to a fault.
Putting that into a story could indicate how isolated a character is from Life, or show how involved a character is in Life. Depends on how you use it. If you and Tonya are doing some minor flirting, then the conversation's a bright spot. If Tonya's just acknowledging you, a diner, then it's just an acknowledgment. If she's pissed at you, it's the minimal amount she can get away with and still expect a tip.
You, the writer of your daily life, get to choose which way you want to interpret the conversation. There are SOOOO many subtle nuances there.
For a change, when she comes back with your order, look up at her and say, "Nuance me, Baby." See if those eggs feel as good ON you as they do IN you.
But whatever you do, WRITE!
"Nuance me, Baby."
Forrest, that's gotta be one of the best lines of all time. Good god, if only I'd had that line when I was twenty-something. HAHAHa.
Thanks for the various conversation interpretations. Look for them and others in my first book.
Just a note from an editor, Erik.
Commericial print guy.
Tells me, "Ivan, don't have an identity crisis. We are placed on this earth to draw dooles around ads. That is the story. That is the entire story. The magazine is just plain wrapping around the ads."
Sigh.
No room for opinion pieces?
Well, there's always good old Antonia Zerbisias over at the Toronto Star. She seems to take my opinions no matter how outrageous. Love the chick.
But there ae no ads. It's all online.
I must write about real estate at once!
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