I typically know where I am going when I start any story.
Today was different. Fun, but scary to see where I explored.
It was a first draft, but I liked the fact that as I continued to write, I built more than I had set out to do.
It came out to about 2,000 words. It is rough, trust me, nowhere near ready for publication. But I also believe that it was good for me in the scheme of things. It allowed me to run without a map and no matter where I went, it was going to be okay.
I wonder if there is something holding me back sometimes. Perhaps the fear of not knowing. But this blog has helped in this regard. I have been a lot more loose with my ideas, because no matter what, I have to enjoy the material enough to share it.
I have several friends who are stand-up comedians that experience this same sort of idea development. While they have structure in terms of jokes they tell, they say things off-the-cuff which actually help build the humor farther than when they sit down and write their material.
Harry J Reilly, Spokane's funniest man, did this last week at an open mike contest. He was going through his material on-stage, said something completely hilarious unscripted, and afterward asked a few people what he said. It was so in the moment that he forgot it and was worried that it was lost forever.
Thankfully, writers put it down on paper. As long as we put it there, we can go back and see what we like and what we didn't. Something to keep in mind the next time I doubt the opportunity "just to write" and see where it goes.
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