I’ve been on a serious writing kick, blogging my unemployed time away, instead of filing out applications and such. I keep hearing Story Corps on NPR and thinking, man, I’ve got a story to tell. So I spent yesterday googling various ways to start this epic novel that will likely never see the light of day in a used bookstore. I fell upon a few great sites that offer up some decent advice on how to start…and starting has clearly always been the hardest part for me.
I think I’m slowly ditching the idea of writing a memoir, since, seriously, who wants to read an autobiography of an overeducated, slightly alcoholic, chain smoking substitute teacher with a trusty dog sidekick?? Maybe I’m wrong, but I think I’m going to head to Shakespeare for some inspiration, maybe take a “modern” twist on The Merry Wives of Windsor or one of the other comedies. Maybe a problem play would better suit my purpose. I guess I’ll figure that out along the way.
Though I’m sure the title will change over the course of this little project, here’s what I have so far:
- To Come Back and Rise (Care of Carly Simon’s “Hola Soleil”)
- They All Laugh at Angry Young Men (Care of Lambert, Hendricks & Ross’s “Twisted”)
- Joni Mitchell Says
- Like Everyone She Knows (Care of James Taylor’s “Like Everyone She Knows”)
- A Defector from the Petty Wars (Care of Joni Mitchell’s “Hejira”)
- Between the Forceps and the Stone (Care of Joni Mitchell’s Hejira”)
- My Salad Days (Care of Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra: “My salad days,/ When I was green in judgment, cold in blood.”)
- The Art of Quitting
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