Traveling and Writing
I was in Denver last weekend. Sitting next to me on the crowded plane was a woman with a long, brown braid. Over the course of the flight, she silently drank four Whiskey Sours, clutching the armrest with one hand. She wore earth-colored tones and her hair smelled woodsy, herbal.
I was compelled to give her a back-story, a name…some sort of mission. I needed a break from the short story I had brought with me to revise. Maybe a new story would jump-start the old one.
Pulling out my laptop, I tried not to spill the woman’s whiskey. Her braid reminded me of Fitzgerald’s short story, “Bernice Bobs Her Hair,” and despite myself, I laughed out loud several times. I think this unhinged the woman even more and she glanced at me with caution in her eyes.
Several pages later, I realized that the story really wasn’t going anywhere. The woman had fallen asleep, and I switched back to my old story. Was it all just procrastination? Maybe, but it felt good to write something new, something that made me laugh. I am beginning to accept that this is all part of the revision process.