Dearest Readers,
“I am dry, dry, dry.”
This quote, from a scene I co-wrote with a girlfriend way back when I was in theatre school, keeps running through my head as I sit here searching for inspiration. Nothing is coming but that refrain.
“I am dry, dry, dry.”
The scene came out of an exercise in writing class. We got into pairs and started improvising dialogue. The gal I was paired with was a good friend. We immediately took on characters with Southern accents. Suddenly she was Delores and I was Sugar.
Delores: There ain’t nobody in my life. I am dry. Dry.Dry.
Sugar: That’s just an excuse.
Delores: Honey, I’m talking in facts. It’s that simple. I’m all dried up. Dry as a bone and there ain’t no well in sight.
Okay, my memory isn’t that good. I had to go and find the scene in my files. The pages are a little yellow at the edges and the ink is fading from the passage of time but those gals are still talkin’. It’s been sixteen years.
What’s a writer to do when she’s dry as a bone with no well in sight? What has she to offer?
Let’s try a little bit more Sugar…
Sugar: You know what I used to do when I was younger? I’d open up the cupboard and inside we had one of them spinnin’ shelves you know like a… Lazy Susan? And I used to spin it around like I was spinnin’ for that big orange dollar on The Price is Right. If it stopped facin’ the way it started I felt like I’d won the big prize.
From here Delores and Sugar go on to talk about aging.
Delores: Don’t you wish you could hide it? I mean honestly.
Sugar: No, I don’t. I was taught to be proud of growin’ old. It don’t scare me none.
Delores: Not even a tiny eeny weeny bitty bit?
Sugar: Lookin’ old just don’t come into it for me. And you won’t see me at Johnson’s Drug Store lookin’ for a miracle cure to make me look the age I was when I was the most messed up.
Delores: You won’t see me there either. It doesn’t mean I don’t feel the effects. The fear. I mean, I’m strong. I’m not gonna buy into no market thing. I buy that growin’ old with dignity shit, too. But it don’t mean it don’t scare me though.
Sugar: You’re right. You’re much better at admittin’ yer fears than I am, Delores.
Delores: I’ve just had three more beers than you, honey.
It’s funny for me to read this now. Even way back then the characters I created had trouble admitting they were afraid. To see how far I’ve come in this area you can listen to a new speech on facing fear that I just posted on YouTube. Make sure to watch Part Two as well.
Hurrah! The dry well has water in it. Sometimes we just have to dig a little deeper to get at it.
Inspiring Message of the Day: When I am feeling uninspired I will stay in the game, I will keep moving forward, I will trust that inspiration will come. One more step, one more sentence, one more moment may just bring me to the flowing spring.
