Story is a loose thread pulled until the whole spool unwinds, all the words tumbling out like wasps from a struck nest. The writer arranges them into pleasing patterns of words that sting, of words that placate, of words that provoke. The writer then is the papery hull of the nest, tattered and empty.
Until the next story comes along. Now buzzing with ideas. Building a new nest.
Just a thought 34
Image courtesy Pixabay.com
Sharon Lynne Bonin-Pratt began her writing career the way so many others have done: by first doing everything else. Winning entries in grade school art, story, and essay contests convinced her to become a writer, but the real world intruded in adulthood and demanded she pay bills, raise kids, be a contributing member of the community. Along that rutted path she worked in the commercial art field designing patterns for surfer shorts, bikinis, and Hawaiian style shirts, taught after-school art through a city recreation program, and structured an art curriculum for three private schools. Ten years ago the writing muse, struggling to breathe in letters to friends and art articles, found its way to the surface. In a two-week period Shari wrote 60 pages of her first historical novel, and didn’t stop for three years. By then a second book demanded paper – OK, computer space – and now the third is in final revision stage. Of course, final revision is two words with a long shadow and a little footprint. Some folk claim they will write when the floors get vacuumed, the family accounting completed, the new garden planted. Shari is proof that all those things can be successfully ignored but not the urge to write. Her fiction explores human relationships, revenge, rage, forgiveness, redemption, and all the labyrinthine quandaries that mess up otherwise perfect lives. She resides in Southern California with her husband who’s learned to vacuum but not to cook. And the garden needs help.
Comments on: "Wasp Nest" (15)
Oh dear, now I have words tumbling everywhere! 🙂
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Quick, quick, gather them before they completely escape.
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I prefer cozy homes to wasps nests. I get tired of being stung!
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Of course, me too, but it was just a metaphor for word-smithing.
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I adore the creativity in this. Also love your description of the write. Yeah, that sounds like us.
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Thanks, Andrew – I had fun with this one. And no wasps were injured in the production.
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lol
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Sharon, I love your way with words. What a great metaphor!
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Sometimes the ideas plod like a teenager in the morning, and sometimes they burst fully formed before I can turn on the computer.
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Shari, an interesting analogy and one I can relate to! At times the words seem to sting me…particularly when they won’t tumble out in the right order! After an intense writing session I do feel almost bereft and empty. A striking thought and image.
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Annika, I often have the same empty feeling when I’ve finished a story – a kind of bereft emptiness that makes me sad for a while.
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Interesting metaphor. I completely relate to feeling like a tattered, empty, papery hull unless I have a story to write. I write, therefore I am? If so, to use a different metaphor, it’s more like a riding a hamster wheel than a treadmill, full of ups and downs. 🙂
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That one works too. We writers need to be sure we have other things going on to consume our lives or we really will dry up or ride around in endless circles.
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I like the vision of words tumbling like a struck wasps nest. I can’t imagine you ever being the empty nest – I think your new words start forming before the others have even started to fall.
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That’s a very kind thing to say, Irene, thank you.
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