dragonyphoenix

Last week a friend asked what I’m working on with my writing. Well, that answer’s not so interesting because that story isn’t gelling. What’s more interesting is the story I’ve already written. It’s for an anthology and explore the idea that we can choose how we react to situations. That’s what I meant the story to be about anyway. I’m not sure if that idea came through!

The story features a woman with dementia and what she remembers is WWII, when she was able to get work as a welder, and after, when working opportunities shut down for women. Her story was strongly influenced by a documentary, The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter. I saw this way back in 1992 - shortly before A League of Their Own came out - and I can still see one of the woman plaintively saying, “All I wanted was to weld one little gate.”

This woman, my character, has felt cheated ever since she’s been turned out of her job and now, stuck in dementia, can’t get away her negative feelings. Some of what we see is how she limited her daughter, passing along the “women can’t do” message with “girls can’t study chemistry.” Her daughter, however, even though her choices were limited by what she heard from her mother, is happy with her life.

Both of these characters are me. The mother reflects how I felt at my last job. I was in a bad headspace and had no idea how to get past it. I’ve had therapy since then and I meditate regularly so I’m in a better headspace but, even so, I think the daughter represents whom I want to be. She knows her path. She’s learning new things. She’s happy. I don’t yet know what my path will be, but I hope I’ll be as contented as this daughter is with hers.

I'm watching an awesome DVD series, Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer's Craft as taught by Professor Brooks Landon, on cumulative syntax. Once again I'm amazed and impressed by what my public library actually carries. I highly recommend this set of DVDs if you can get your hands on it, but, if not, apparently Virginia Tufet's Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style, which I haven't read yet, also goes into it. The thing I like most about cumulative syntax is that it's a simple technique for adding information and details to a sentence.

Here is what I wrote today; while it is somewhat difficult to separate out, the bolded sections are what was inspired by Landon's lectures.  Note: this is a rough first draft so the grammar may not be entirely correct (for example I just changed a present tense verb to past tense so it would fit in with the rest of the text.)

( Cut for sex scene... )