Writing for Pleasure

My husband has taken to writing. He’s published, and he shows no sign of stopping. I often humor (probably, likely, only) myself by quoting my favorite fictional man whenever I see him doing so in public:

“Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of–but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.” — Lazarus Long, Notebooks of Lazarus Long from Time Enough for Love, NY: G.P. Putnam’s Sons (A Berkley Medallion Book), 1973 By: Robert Heinlein

Yet, I found myself commenting just yesterday that next time we go to Disney alone, we should bring our laptops and pick a good “cross-road” and just start writing down all the stories we think of when we people-watch.

People-watching is my favorite game. Not because I’m all that interested in the people themselves, but I love the back-stories I make up in my head. I’m sure they are much more interesting than what is really going on. This has nothing to do with the people themselves, and everything to do with the stretching of my imagination. The more improbable the story the more I enjoy expanding on it.

Michael is the same way. A few weeks ago I said “no” in such a way he deemed it the “Boca Troll” and has come up with an entire mythos surrounding this fabulous creature. All because I said “no” in what was probably a “JAP-y” (JAP = Jewish American Princess, but you knew that, right?) way. My inner Princess occasionally finds her way out. He usually calls me on it. Hence the newly invented Boca Troll. I’m not going to tell you about the Boca Troll, just incase he one day uses it to make a humorous book, but suffice to say, she is hilarious.

So I’m pretty sure we’ll go look obnoxious with our laptops, hogging a table or a bench, writing whatever observations we make for as long as I can stand to sit in one place. Maybe we should re-locate from the parks themselves to a bar. I may stick it out longer with a few fingers of whiskey and air conditioning.

I’m not a prolific writer. I like to tool around on here, and I occasionally explode with some sort of social commentary type article, but I’ve haven’t attempted anything more ambitious in many years. Perhaps it’s time? They say everyone has a book inside of them waiting to be written. I’m not really sure what mine is, or if it’s anything more than a picture book.