November IWSG 2020

 

Good evening, insecure writers. I think there are much more insecure folks in the good ole' U.S. of A. tonight than just the writers. What's going to happen next with this election? Talk about a nail biter. Have any of you ever put an election in one of your stories?

Thank you to our host, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and most excellent crew of co-hosts: Jemi Fraser, Kim Lajevardi, L.G Keltner, Tyrean Martinson, and Rachna Chhabria.

This month's optional question: Why do you write what you write?

Image: Inara Pey

I have loved books for so many years. They seem to cure so many maladies, including boredom and loneliness. They inspire. They educate. Books are magical. 

I wanted to know if I could create a story comparable to the stories that made a big impression on me or the ones that made me think and see something from another point of view. I wanted to know if I could create something magical. Something a reader could get lost in. 

This lead to stories where, hopefully, the characters seemed like real people and the situations were full of tension and surprises. 

______________

Image: Marcia O' Connor 

I skipped last month's IWSG blog hop because the Tuesday before, I did something all newly-minted, 50-year-olds (or rather, 45-year-olds nowadays) should do: I got my first colonoscopy. 

Man, I was dreading this test for years, not because of the procedure itself, but because of the prep. And not the drinking the bad stuff either (although Suprep tasted like sea water with a squirt of cherry piss and that's being generous).

My greatest fear was the day of fasting. I've never fasted more than 12 hours and I don't skip meals. I was afraid of getting the mother of all headaches and completely falling apart. 

And like all fears, once I'd gotten through it, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Did I get a bad headache? Yes. But that's from working all day with one of my daughters on her schoolwork. Six hours of screen time without food will do that to a person. Did I have a minor freakout when I realized my Tylenol was coated in bright red, the forbidden color you absolutely can't have on the day before a colonoscopy? 

Oh, yeah. 

So, I tried to make due with some years out-of-date white Tylenol that really didn't help much. You want to know the other forbidden color? Purple. I remembered this just as I was swishing the awful taste of Suprep away with my mouthwash and realized mid-swish that IT WAS PURPLE! Oh, calamity!

Well, at least I didn't accidentally scarf down a bunch of chocolate-chip cookies or anything. The only item close to food that you're allowed on fast day is Jello. I mixed up 4 batches of the stuff and learned some important things. First, you really need boiling hot water to dissolve the stuff properly. Otherwise, it turns out grainy. Second, blue raspberry jello isn't that great. Orange is the best flavor, then lime, then lemon. Skip the blue.

Another thing you can eat drink the day before is chicken broth. I read somewhere that you should treat yourself to an expensive brand of broth. Don't. The expensive brand I picked (Pacific) tasted like somebody scraped the burnt parts off a grill and mixed it with water. Hurl. Just go with a brand you know and you will be much happier.

When I finally got home and could eat, I scarfed down all the chocolate-chip cookies in the house and slept for three hours. What a day.

_______________

Anything you've been dreading?