Did You Know?
Hey, did you know that the singer Seal used to have lupus, but now it’s in remission? Yeah, it’s how he got those scars on his face. And, speaking of weird stuff on the face, those scar-spots that Morgan Freeman has? That’s a condition called dermatitis papulosa. And also? Speaking of scars? Did you know that Sharon Stone has one on her neck, and that Catherine Zeta-Jones had a tracheotomy?
Um, yeah. You can learn ALOT of trivial crap when you’re stewing about your re-write. I have now changed the perspective on my latest novel (the teen/ YA book) three times, and think I’ve finally found the right one. But– the in between times, when it’s not working, but you don’t know what to do to make it work?
Brutal. Surf the internet for random "I’ve always wondered about that" trivia brutal. "Catch up on my FaceBook email" brutal. "Clean my office" brutal. I mean, I’m not saying that writing is as hard as, say, working in a coal mine, because we all know it’s not, and I’m super grateful to even have people who are interested to read my stories, dude. It IS hard, though, when you know you have a good story, but you can’t figure out how to make it come out. And because I try to always follow my father-in-law’s Three Rules of Life (hold over your plate, read the directions, and don’t force anything), I have to just wait it out until it starts flowing again. OK, now I’m making writing sound like pooping, but you get the general idea.
Remember the days BEFORE the internet? How did I survive grad school and my Master’s Thesis (which was about Dostoevsky, Strindberg, and the modern theater, in case you’ve got that on your "things you want to know about me" list) without the internet to console me during the lean times? Now that I think back on it, I think I spent those pre-internet stewing moments reading John Grisham novels while I waited for my mind to solve the problem.
Because I think maybe you have some of these moments in your life, and because maybe you are like me and want to learn interesting things while you are stewing I will share this fascinating site with you: http://www.skinema.com . No, it’s not a porn site, and yes, it is safe for work. It’s a compilation of celebrity skin conditions. I don’t know why I find this kind of stuff so interesting. Maybe this site will interest you as well, if in fact you are in the middle of a big project, and suddenly find yourself wanting to acquire more information about the albino from the Da Vinci code, or track the progress of Nic Cage’s male pattern baldness, or many, many other vitally important things that will serve you well later in your life.