misdirection | Sharon Bonin-Pratt's Ink Flare

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Posts tagged ‘misdirection’

I Could Aim Better

Even without a wayward draft to misdirect a bird in flight, a folded slip of paper aimed at a trashcan might yet miss its intended target and land on the floor, a dust collector for those with short brooms.

A baker en route to delivering fresh cookies to lucky children might trip on the upturned edge of the sidewalk, the treats toppling onto the concrete, landing in a crush of sweet crumble for alert mice.

Aiming for the concentric circle of chlorinated water at the community pool, a diver might wobble his torso, miss the mark, and land in a belly flop, water erupting as wildly as back flipping whales.

Stories do not begin in perfect landings but perfectly good stories begin in chaotic tumbles down all kinds of chutes. The struggle of climbing back up makes for great reading.

Just a thought 27

Image: The Dance of Cogul, Levantine rock art of the Iberian Peninsula

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Everyday Life, inspiration, Just a Thought, writer's life

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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.