Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself,
but talent instantly recognizes genius.
-- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish writer (1859-1930)
There are times, however, when something overwhelms me emotionally, and my gut reaction is to lash back with whatever the emotion happens to be, whether it's anger or grief, excitement or joy - yeah, sometimes there's even a positive tilt to my venting. And I never do anything halfway - if I'm well and truly ticked, you'd be best served by taking a step back until I cool down. And when I'm happy, I'm downright contagious - or so I've been told.
I don't put much stock in astrology, but the personality description of the zodiac sign of my birth (Aries) fits me like a comfortable old sweatshirt. Passionate to a fault. Fiery. Headstrong. Loyal. These terms pretty much define me.
This is another one of those cases where I've told you one story to tell you another. The thesis of the above diatribe is, of course ... character development. As a writer, I have to know with whom I am dealing. I've given this lecture before - the whole carrot cake thing - a year ago today, to be exact (time does fly when you're having this much fun, doesn't it? - and no, I didn't do it on purpose - must be a God thing).
So, how well do you know your characters? Did you create someone like me, for instance - someone for whom, on the surface, the glass is always half full, but who has an underlying fiery streak that you just really don't want to mess with? Would I make a good heroine? The answer to that is heck, no. I'm afraid of the dark. And heights. And I don't do well with crowds. Pretty much I would suck as a heroine. I might make a good sidekick, though.
Hmmm. Maybe I'd be better as the damsel in distress.
Today is a writing day. I still owe my next victim his interview, but my schedule is collapsing around me. Yesterday was one of those days where a monkey wrench was thrown into my gears and all my cogs broke. But I'm doing much better now.
More March Madness. Fortunately, there is no basketball for the next couple days to distract me from getting my work done. Come Thursday, though, I'll be in front of the TV, brackets in hand.
I cheat. I didn't fill them in completely. I go round by round. Yeah, sue me. Whatever. I just have fun with it, anyway - no gambling or pools or anything like that. It's just me and the board. After Thursday and Friday, I was 25/32. Of course, as the WGH said, there weren't a lot of upsets. Except for that whole VCU beating Duke thing, of course. After Saturday and Sunday I was 13/16. Yes, I picked Vanderbilt and Butler, thank you very much. I did not pick Tennessee - but the reasons behind that are for another post.
I haven't made my selections for the next round yet, but I will have that done before the first game tips off on Thursday. It would be easy to predict that the Final Four will end up being the four Number 1 seeds - that is, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina and Ohio State, but I'm just not convinced it will end up that way. There are still a lot of good teams left in this thing - no one lower than a 7-seed - and it is The Tournament, which by definition means that any given team can beat any other team on any given day. I do think Ohio State has a chance to win it all, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Big-10 alum. I think Memphis is under-rated. I also think Florida is beatable. We'll just have to see how it goes.
I might throw my "predictions" into the public forum on Thursday morning, just to see how it goes from there. I might even make my picks all the way through, you know, like we're supposed to.
We'll see. For now, I have to write like a mad fiend. Ground to cover, time to make up. Characters to develop.
Read a book.
=) JB
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader. -- Margaret Fuller, U.S. writer (1810-1850)
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