I stare at the screen for the first time in a couple of days waiting for it to hit me: the synopsis for my next story. I’ve seen and read many simple stories over the weekend, stories where there was little cleverness and few explosions (well, except for “Batman”: “I am Batman!” And, no, that line wasn’t in the movie, but I keep thinking of it, similar to “Spartacus”). They were character stories (since most stories are character stories), and they were enjoyable. After I finished watching or reading them, I thought about the story, thought about the characters, both of which moved me.

And here I sit, waiting for my brilliance to leak out on the page, waiting for me to learn the lessons from these stories to bang me over the head. It hasn’t happened, of course. Had it happened, I’d be leaping into those stories.

I was about to call it a day and not finish my words, but as I sat here, without Doolies (I was talking to her on the phone but her parents clicked in from China), I decided to give it another go. I know the type of story I want to tell, and I’ve been working on a synopsis. I didn’t get very far (writing a synopsis, I’ve found, is not as rewarding as writing prose—mostly because when I reread it, the writing, being a synopsis and everything, is not as interesting or artistic). I’m going to push through it, though, and see if I can come up with something.

My brain doesn’t feel like I twisted it on right. I’m exhausted from my flight and from a terrible meal at Lee’s Sandwich, which made what would have been a bad flight into an intolerable one. Instead of lots of writing, Doolies dragged me into the video game world. I spent the last one and a half in there, which is really just an excuse for not writing. I worked on a paragraph of synopsis and thoughts—all of which is crap—that I won’t post. I’m trying to keep it exciting (for me), and, more truth, it’s not terribly good.

I’ll try this again tomorrow, hopefully finding more in the way of words and inspiration and interesting things to talk about. Even with the synopsis, I only made about 600 words today on a tall mocha. I know, I need to write more and tell more stories. Preaching to the choir, you are, preach it.