08 September, 2011

I Am Braindead

And not because I have been turned into a zombie. Which begs the question, are zombies sentient?

Anyway, I am sitting at the airport where I have been for the past four hours. No fault of the airline or the airport or the weather. Just a late flight and an early check out time and no where to go hangout with my luggage.

Actually, it's kind of nice. Everyone around me are strangers. I have nothing to do. Absolutely nothing to do, except sit and watch planes take off and land. I can't go anywhere and I can't do anything except sit. I've read a little, knitted a little. I don't want to watch a movie or NetFlix. I did that yesterday while sitting bored in my hotel room.

Problem is, I am really brain dead right now. I have no inclination to write anything. I hemmed and hawed about writing this post for like ten minutes while I watched some ground crew peeps load and unload suitcases from a plane. For some reason, I wanted to watch them load identical black suitcases into a 747 more than I wanted to write or read or do anything.

Why the massive brain fart? Why the complete and utter lack of literary inspriation? I have no desire to entertain myself or in turn be entertained.

Mostly I think this is because I had an audition yesterday. All that stress lifted from my shoulders. I am completely braindead, as I usually am after a big musical event. I could just lie and stare at the ceiling. Or in this instance, the ground crew workers as they refuel an airplane.

So, how do I make some use of these hours I have with absolutely nothing I could do except walk laps of the concourse or write?

This leads me to another question. (I am full of questions today) How do I get inspiration in the first place? Can you even 'get' inspiration? Isn't that the whole point of 'inspiration?' That an idea comes to you without method or device, a stroke of genius. I may not be a genius, but I've had moments like those, where I'm like 'Wow! I have a great idea for a plot/story/scene/ending!'

Sometimes, they are dreams I've had. I have ridiculously detailed dreams. Last night, no doubt due to the relief of stress...and the whole pizza I devoured by myself...I had a crazy dream about a giant catastrophy that descimanted civilization.

It was just like a movie. There was even a music montage to show passing time as me and the band of people I had fallen in with planted crops and gathered food for the next winter. It went on for ever, it felt like. The dream, not the music montage.

Sometimes I watch something and I am like: I could sooooo do that better. Or I read a book and am inspried because it was so bad or so good. Other times it is just a scene, and then I ask why. Why are these people in this situation? What would happen next?

This is a dangerous question. It sometimes leads to lengthy sequels and back story that you have to adjust the first story to include/set up. Be very cautious about starting on the NEXT question if you don't really want to know what happens next.

...

I think I just subliminally answered my own question about how to use my time. I have a number of little stories that could have sequels/some backstory. But which one?

Dare I start on a sequel to Cousin of the Crown?

Oooooooooooh! I can think of soooooo many different ways that whole mess could turn out. The tension between the brothers is by no way resolved, the king and queen dislike both of their daughters-in-law for various reasons, and there is the remaining question of their relations with their neighboring countries.

Any suggestions from you peeps? If you haven't read it, please do. It's free, or should be, at scribd.com under my profile, Elisabeth Treble. If not, email me and I can send you a Word or PDF copy of the original manuscript.

Only three hours until take-off. How much can I get done before then?

PS i just spell checked this and it says i don't have any errors. I don't believe it; that's never happened to me before. So, sorry if it's just trying to trick me. :)

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