Sidetracked

I'm embarrassingly late getting this posted today. It'd be great if I could tell you all that, somehow, my automatic post just didn't work right or that I'd been on vacation in some south pacific island and had no internet.

But, really, I've been sidetracked.

Sidetracked is not the same as being derailed, though it can feel similar sometimes. For me, being derailed means everything you had prioritized and orderly in your life falls apart. That happened a few months ago, actually. Fortunately, this time I was just sidetracked.

I have this stupid sinus thing going on. It's been driving me crazy for over a week now. And, this morning, I decided to go to the doctor rather than tend to my Monday blog posts. I was going to type up all my blog posts for the week yesterday, but, again, I felt too miserable to sit at the computer.

Pity party over. I hate dwelling on how miserable I feel, the pain I'm in, the symptoms--and all that. So, we're done. Tomorrow I will be feeling much better.

I've also been working really hard on edits for The Tyrant King. In fact, I almost have a full manuscript ready for beta readers. Granted, my work has slacked off considerably in the last few days, but I'm not stopping. No way.

Saturday, I woke up with a fantastic idea for solving a particular plot problem. I'd dreamed the scene the night before. But my kids decided to be incredibly needy Saturday, so I didn't get the writing done I'd planned. Such is life.

I imagine the things that sidetrack me are the things that get each of us in turn. Life happens, so the saying goes. But I'm not going to let that stop me. I'm stubborn that way. :)

Visions of farm accidents

For those who didn't know, in addition to being a writer, I'm also an EMT in my hometown. The last week of every month we have training where we learn new skills or review things we know (and quarterly we also have pass-offs of all our skills and the drugs we carry so we can stay current on them). Tonight we were told we were working with the fire department--which usually means we're doing car extrication practice. We work with the guys on the fire department a lot--anytime there's a car accident dispatch calls both departments out together. If there's a structure fire (house, barn, etc), the ambulance goes out to the scene to monitor the firemen between their runs into the house to rip out ceilings and douse flames. And sometimes we even end up treating people who live in the house--but usually we're just badgering the firemen to wait until their blood pressure comes back to a normal range, and forcing them to drink more electrolytes. =)

Tonight, however, we drove out to some farms and learned about extricating people from accidents with tractors and balers and other large equipment. I still couldn't tell you what all of the machines are called, but I got a crash course on what could go wrong on farm equipment. One of the EMTs and her husband--who runs a farm--got some volunteers to get bloodied (with fake blood) up as victims, and put together some fake bodies to take the place of victims who probably wouldn't survive the accidents (no actual people were harmed in the scenarios, though several were really cold from lying on the ground, and any number of clothes were damaged beyond repair).

We went through each scenario discussing what the EMTs injury concerns would be, what the firemen could do to help us, to extricate the patients and solve problems while we cared for the patient. After it was all over, I heard one of the EMTs saying to Lindsey, who put it all together, "Wow, you must have a really twisted brain to come up with all of those situations." I kept the fact that I had been wondering about how I could use one of the scenarios in a story to myself. She didn't need to know how seriously twisted I was, after all.

After Jeff told us that he and three other farmers stood around the baling machine that morning discussion how someone might have an accident with it and not end up dead, I realized farms are a magnet for danger. I could write a real horrific suspense story on one of those places!

Okay, now to the point of all of this (besides the fact that it was just plain fascinating). EMTs have to learn new skills and keep their current skills up to date. In the same way, I need to keep my writing skills honed, and learn new ones all the time. I read Lisa Mangum's new book The Golden Spiral this week and she said in her acknowledgments that in writing her second book, she learned every new book is different. They have to be treated like a different book because what works for one doesn't work for the next one.

Just because I've been to ten or eleven conferences now doesn't mean I've learned everything there is to learn about writing (I learned plenty at the LUW spring workshop last weekend). This is an ongoing process and I can't afford to become comfortable with the same kinds of skills that I've used in the past.

What worked for my first couple of books isn't going to be enough for the next one, and though I can use the skills I've already learned, I need to keep improving, keep searching for better ways to work my craft, better ways to express myself, new and unique ways to kill people off (If there are so many on a farm, just imagine where else you could find a few!).

Real Life Always Gives You Something to Write About

This past summer, I attended education week classes at a nearby university. The last class of the day was on increasing the LOVE in your relationships. Sounds like your average marriage class. But it was far from it. The LOVE lesson I learned that day will stick in my mind forever.

My friend and I found two open seats near the front of the classroom. We sat down and pulled out our notebooks and pens. Within minutes, the room filled with eager students ranging from ages 18 to 75. The instructor began an informative discussion about the three Greek words that define the most important word in the English language...L-O-V-E.


The instructor explained that . . .

"Eros is the romantic kind of love."

"Philos is brotherly love, or the deep love you have for family members and good friends. "

"Agape love is god-like love. The unconditional, giving, serving, and sacrificing kind of love."

Interestingly enough, as the instructor began describing eros, I spotted a young couple (very young) sitting near the exit door. They couldn't keep their hands off each other. I thought to myself, "Ah, ha! That's eros in action." And believe me, there was action. Fingers through the hair, back rubs, shoulder rubs, and arm tickles. For 50 minutes straight the strawberry blonde and her bronzed counterpart were obviously engaged in eros. I guess you could say they were a very effective visual aid. (Ha!)

Next, the instructor introduced philos. The bonding kind of love you feel for a dear family member or a good friend. This kind of love is deep and has the other person's best interest at heart. I looked around the room. And what do you know? To the right of me, sat a mom and a daughter. They were linked arm in arm. They had to be mother and daughter because the dark haired one looked like a younger version of the gray-haired one. They seemed very close. At one point, the dark-haired one pulled out a granola bar, split it half and gave a piece to the gray-haired one. "Okay," I thought. There's philos in action." Again, another great visual aid.

Well, next, the instructor introduced agape love. Now, keep in mind, I've been in classes all day. My rear end is starting to go numb. My mind is wandering to what I'm going to make for dinner and which children will have what homework. "Okay, back on track. Back to agape." I tried to focus.

So, the instructor then explained that AGAPE is the God-like love—unconditional love that forgives and endures. He talked about how agape love could not be shaken or altered and that it is the heart of God that we as humans would experience if we could experience love in its fullness. I think to myself, "Well, there's no visual aid for that." I got my protein bar out of my bag and took a bite. My eyes wandered. That's when I noticed a couple sitting right in front of me. A gray-haired man and a gray-haired woman. I guessed they were in their late 60s. There was nothing stand-out obvious about this couple except for, at one point, the husband fixed his wife's knitted sweater that had fallen off her shoulder. How sweet. Then, it happened. A long, loud, bodily sound accompanied by a gassy smell came from the gray-haired woman. Ugghh! Can you imagine a quiet room of 200 people and having that happen to you? Unfortunately, there was no way to disguise it. She had "tooted" and everyone—at least those of us close by—knew it. I shifted in my chair feeling her pain but at the same time feeling gratitude that it was her and not I. (Does that count as philos?)

Well, right then, this woman's husband, slowly but surely, lifted his right arm, stretched it around her and lovingly patted her on her the shoulder. He even gave her a little pull towards him as if to say, "It's okay. I love you."

"Ah! Agape!" I couldn't resist. I turned to my friend and whispered, "Did you see that? THAT! THAT'S AGAPE!" We giggled silently with hearts full! We had witnessed Agape at its peak. Maybe no one else around thought so. But we sure did. And it was beautiful! (A little smelly, but beautiful.)

That day, I can honestly say love was in the air!

To the couple who sat in front of me at Education Week 2009, I thank you! In you, I saw AGAPE in action. You know, I can't remember much more about that class—not even the instructor's name. But thanks to those three couples, I will remember the lessons of love never to be forgotten.

Whatever you see in normal,

every day life...there is a story to tell.  Tell it. 

Have a great week everyone.
 
--Jodi Marie Robinson