Monday, February 28, 2011

Suspense of the Suspended

One crazy weekend, back when I was a member of the Young and the Wreckless (nope, not the soap opera), I jumped out of a helicopter just to say I did it and to know how it felt.

It's quite obvious I survived, but how loud did I knock on death's door? The first two jumps out of a perfectly good helicopter were flawless. However, the third jump hit a snag, which ended my career as a skydiver.

Oh, no loss really. I never wanted to do it for a living, just wanted the experience of hanging around in the sky for a few minutes.

Writing about a young girl held captive who defended herself by shooting her captor with his own gun led me to a shooting range just so I could describe what a 357 magnum felt like when shooting it. The safety course cost me $75 (which meant ramen noodles for a while), but no loss because I gained the experience.

There are so many things I have done, will do, and dream of doing just to make my writing credible. Sometimes those feelings are too real for comfort, other times I feel I haven't reached deep enough to enable my writing that level of injustice, betrayal, pain, and anguish that writing a burning success requires.

Someday...

until then...I need a job, but writing a resume is worse than writing query letters to agents. Query letters are about someone else's life of glamor, suspense, adventure, pain, etc. Resumes are...about me.

6 comments:

  1. I would rather write a resume to be truthful. Query letters are so intimidating...just trying to reduce the scope of a novel to one or two short paragraphs O.o... especially challenging if you are verbose (which I am).

    Glad to hear that you've been skydiving. I myself will never do this. I'm too chicken.

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  2. It is true that reducing anything (especially our waste lines) is difficult, but to fluff up something that just isn't there...resumes are great if you have an MFA or a doctorate, you know what I mean.

    Sky diving was not that scary, but I came to my senses anyway. Snorkling in the Mediterranean near the end of the boot on my way to Sicily was the most awesome experience.

    My dream trip is Greece and the Peloponnesian Islands.

    oh, if you are that chicken then you won't need a parachute with all those feathers.

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  3. Oh you're a snarky one Lucinda.

    Congratulations! You've just won the "One Lovely Blog Award". /giggle.

    I know that this thing is essentially a chain letter and that if you don't want to take the time to come and grab it, that's fine too. However, the merits of doing so are:

    1) You are bequeathed with super-powers.

    2) It gives you a free blog entry that you don't have to put any thought into :P (my favorite).

    3) Winning stuff is fun, even if it is a free picture.

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  5. Typo. Sorry.

    I happened on your blog through Michael's award. Pleased to meet you, fellow awardie :)

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  6. Wowsers! I am completely flabbergassed...er...I mean flabbergasted and honored.

    Thanks bunches Michael and nice to meet you David. I plan to follow the above instructions soon. However, sending out resumes, going to interviews, and job hunting in general, my blog is suffering from neglect. (so is my novel writing)

    That is an interesting award - I googled it to check it all out. I will definitely pass the award foward.

    thanks again

    Lucy

    ps...I can read typos poifectly (thanks to MSN chat back in the day)

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