Fun meta asks for writers

Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?
Right now less writing creatively and more business writing to support a play that is being produced.

Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project
I look forward to taking half-writ stuff and just finishing it and transcribing it digitally.  I still have been known to write stuff longhand.

What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

There are few and eventually I get to them via longhand.

Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Seeking Answers and Help for the Great Beyond

“I’ve been seeing a therapist.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“Husband, I would have thought that you would have known that if you are secretly meeting someone and paying for it, that you would use the personal account and not the joint account.  Or pay in cash.”

“You never said anything.”

“I figured in this instance that you would tell me when you were ready.  You’ve never lied to me about where you spent your time since those heady days when you were still working for your partner in crime and you learned your lesson, although you didn’t tell me either.”

“I never meant to keep it from you. I guess I –“

“Needed the space to figure out if this was going to work for you without worrying about getting my hopes up or down and

you had to deal with your feelings about the stigma that needing to see a therapist is a sign of weakness.  Even though you know that I would never see it that way. Some beliefs can be tough to overcome-especially if at one time you were an enforcer for a made man.”

He sighed. Per usual, she got it and got him. He didn’t even know what he was worried about.  He went over to the table and sat down.  He motioned for her to join him. She sat down at the table across from her husband.  She was drying her hands from washing some dishes. Her attention was on the man across from her, who was going to possibly share more about this matter with her.

“I got summoned to the family home.  It was about Emily. Somehow my mother thought that it would be a good idea to be there when they visited her. My brother there and he acted the way he always does and we went at it about many things.  He brought up his ‘intervention’ and he brought up you and why you weren’t there. Calling you names and that you were being a coward and liar about being her friend.  I pointed out that you had just regained your mobility after what she did to you and you were lucky not to have any brain damage from what she did to you. I figured I’d check things out and then ask you about seeing her especially if she wanted you to see her.

I wasn’t trying to decide things for you but I wanted to protect you and you need a break.  You constantly deal with this stuff and his pissiness and them and…well my father and mother were surprisingly supportive.  So I went and it barely went. Lots of things were brought up.  Things that I told her in confidence and other things.  After the umpteeth round of fighting that included some swipes from her husband, I left and ended up at our daughter’s grave.”

He took a long swig of coffee.  He watched her over the rim of the cup. She was quiet and had that ‘listening look.’  It’s a look that sometimes drives people crazy since most Americans are taught to look people in the eye and at times can misinterpret indirect to no eye contact as weakness or disrespect.  In fact it’s quite the opposite and at times belies something far more dangerous and powerful. He knew that she was listening to him and doing her thing-analyzing,understanding, deducing and figuring out what her response should be.   There was no judgment, no worry-at least as far as he could tell. She didn’t have a go at him about taking a decision out of her hands.

“I remembered a conversation that your British consulate friend had with another of your law enforcement friends (the tall one) about a cop friend who had been ordered to seek therapy and he found this one that went to school with his wife. The tall one’s wife.  It seemed to go well.  He had seen her too after some big thing. I guess that was around the time you lost your…Thandiwe.  I looked her up and we started our sessions.  It started off a little rocky but she was patient and we talked about a lot of things-my ‘families,’ what happened to me after I lost my son, you and my past and the others.  We’ve worked through things. I’ve learned better coping skills.”

His hands encircled the coffee cup and he looked into it silently. “I-you are the only person I’ve told because you should know.  I haven’t told the others.  I don’t know if I could’ve told Emily the way she is now. I know that there was a time before now that she would have been proud of me.”

“I’m proud of you.”

He looked up at her and gave her a half smile. “I know you wouldn’t have said unless you meant it.”

“What do you need from me in this minute and going forward?”

He was silent for a minute. Then he said,” What you gave me-your undivided attention, your trust, your love, your understanding.  I’ll keep needing it. If you have it to give.”

“You have it.”  She reached and placed a hand on top of his.   He turned his hand so that hers was inside of his and he squeezed it lovingly.

What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?
A lot of them.

What character do you have the most fun writing?
The sisters.  I like the difference in personalities.  I also like Bridget and her audacity.

What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?
I don’t know that I have one. Maybe that it’s old fashioned.

Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?
Pretty much

Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?
Both.

How would you describe your writing process?
Process?

What do you envy in other writers?
Their ability to follow through.  Their ability to let go of their characters and stories and sell them for cash.

Do you want your writing to be famous?
Once upon a time I did but not so much now.

Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?
Bits here and there

At what point in writing do you come up with a title?
Sometimes it’s the first thing I think of.

Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?
Both

Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)
Not really

Do you think readers perceive your work – or you – differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?

How much I just want to tell a story and that no matter who I am or what I ought to write or know, I am what I am and this is my truth.

Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

I’ve transplanted characters in other universes. Bridget for example exists in a couple different AUs. Bird also and she also is and has other characters that are alternate characterizations of her character.

Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’,trope you can’t get enough of?)

It goes through phases.  Someone or something is always letting someone down and they have to shift for themselves.  Big Screwed up family.  Big functional Family that minds it’s own business until something awful happens because no good deed goes unpunished.
Good people in rarefied air learning that they don’t have it as bad as they do.

Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

?????????????

What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)
I always wished I could draw because I’d do comics.

Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?
Some of them surprise me at how dark I was able to get and how productive.

What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?
The SOD stuff.

Would you say your writing has changed over time?
As I’ve gotten older the freshness and sense of wonder has faded which saddens me.

What part of writing is the most fun?
Seeing something you write match what you see in your head.