A Book in My Head

I got the sensation today. It was the feeling of wanting to write a book. Maybe not a book, but a collection of short stories. My mind is brimming with idea fragments that are calling out to be put onto a page. I suppose I now join the club of the millions of aspiring writers who have experienced this exact same burst of confidence delusion.

How many of these people end up writing their book or novella? And of the few who do, how many get published?

So far I have a staggering 2 pages of prose. I haven't added anything new for the past week because I've been trying to parcel out what ideas will be included in one story and what will be saved for another. I'm thinking of writing a trio of stories based around a singular theme and organizing all the ideas into coherent blocks is quickly becoming a challenge. It's certainly a task that demands more than a few idle moments spared while waiting in traffic, or while sitting on the can. A pen and a few sheets of note paper may be of some help, or so I've heard.

Now I'm thinking I should reconnect with J., the rugged Brit lady killer I met earlier this year in Self Actualization School, a.k.a. The Landmark Forum. Our cozy weekly meetings were long ago and J. called me out of the blue several months later as I was walking into Shoppers to grab meds for my miserable ear infection. After a few minutes of awkward small talk, he announced his intention to write a book. A book! It struck me as a little random, seeing as the last venture of his we discussed was more along the lines of a scientific-slash-economic breakthrough involving lasers. Don't ask. The finer points completely elude me right now. All the more reason for me to sit him down and join me for a beer before the December holiday craziness overwhelms everyone's social calendar. We need to talk writing, crazy laser experiments and women. Ah, women.

Sidebar note: I've set all of my online dating profiles to Deep Freeze. I'm putting an end to online romance. What started out as a reassuring safety net had in recent years become my sole avenue of meeting new people. So as of last week, I officially retired my profiles and will do dating the way it's always been done: bricks n' mortars-style. Wish me luck.