I wonder where I’ll wander?

If you decided that you wanted to write a story about writing a story, where would you start?

I used to go to restaurants on my own to listen to other people’s conversations and then try and figure out how they had got to the point of having that conversation and what would happen next. This didn’t get me very far. To be honest, most people’s conversations were the wrong side of boring and even though I tried to be terribly discreet, it was pretty obvious I was listening in, which was a bit creepy really.

So where else do I look to find an idea?

Have you ever tried body scanning? It’s a meditation technique. You close your eyes and, starting at your toes, you scan your body using your mind’s eye and asking yourself, how does it feel? – ‘It’ being your toes, your ankles, your shins, your knees etc.. It’s much harder than it sounds and inevitably something else pops into your head as you are trying to focus on your body. Now, when meditating, one is encouraged to notice the thing that pops into your head, then let it go and return your focus back to the scan. But, if you’re looking for a story idea, why not grab the thought, ditch the scan and run (or hobble if you’ve been sitting cross-legged for too long) to your laptop and get it down!

Actually I think there’s some story-searching truth there. I get my best ideas when I let my mind wander which then leads me to wondering. I’ll be driving or walking or running and I’ll be thinking about one thing and it’ll cause some questions to rise up which will lead me in a (mental) direction I hadn’t thought of before. The trick is remembering the ideas. I had a whole bunch of ideas when I was driving around this morning – can’t remember any of them now …

Dream reader

He used to sit next to me whilst I was in bed. He’d have one foot on the floor and the other tucked underneath his body, like a hinge that would rock him closer to me. He’d hold my hand with one hand and put his other hand on my forehead, stroking my hair away from my face. Then he’d look into my eyes. No matter how good or bad my day had been, I felt totally understood, completely heard and utterly accepted.
“Close your eyes.”
Even though it was still light outside, and I could hear the children playing in next door’s garden, I’d let my lids fall. He’d lean in a little bit closer so that I could feel his breath on my cheek.
“Kiss me.”
Closer still. His beard would prickle my chin. His cranberry lips would pucker and press. His sweet tongue would brush against my teeth and slip into my mouth.
“Go to sleep.”
Then he’d let go of my hand and my head and walk to the other side of the bed. He’d lie down next to me on top of the covers, his weight tucking me in as if I were the apple in a turnover.
“I’ll stay until you’re asleep.”
I was safe. I was warm. I was loved. I was protected. I slept and my dreams were free to blossom and bloom.

In the morning I’d tell him the stories from my dreams and he’d listen.

Name

I’ve heard it said that if you tell someone your real name you become theirs to command. No one really does anything that they don’t want to nowadays, do they? Does that mean that none of us have revealed our real names? No one else knows our names. Maybe we don’t know what they are either. Imagine forgetting your name.  Imagine thinking your name was one thing but actually you were wrong and your name was something completely different. How strange that would be!  It’s one of those things that if you think about it too much your brain ties itself in a knot.

What would you like your name to be?  I have a very boring name, but I’m not going to tell you what it is in case you use it to control me. I would like a more interesting name.  I would like to be called Lalalouloulabelle. Isn’t that a fabulous name? If you called me Lalalouloulabelle, I’d do anything for you.  So that’s nearly as good as knowing my real name, isn’t it?

Experimental

I want to write creatively and see where it takes me.  This blog is for my imagination.  The plan is to write a series of loosely connected blogs and see what emerges from them.  I’m hoping that signing up to the Blogging 101 class here on WordPress will give me a push and also teach me about navigating this crazy Blogverse. The entries on this blog come from my imagination.  They are not fact, they are not reports of real happenings. They are stories.  Lots of little stories that will maybe form one big story.  I don’t know yet.  I’m going to write and see.