It was a beautiful September afternoon. The sky was cloudless blue, it was really too hot out to be "sweater-weather," and the flies were prolific, inside and out. I was in the duck-run with a fly-swatter, writing in my head, when I heard a loud buzzing noise coming from the fence. I was reluctant to investigate - the wasps were as abundant as the flies - but curiosity got the better of me, and I went to look. It was two mating horseflies who had been caught by a large jumping spider.
My frame of mind on everything shifted. Actions weren't just actions, they were creation and destruction. When I fed the ducks tomatoes, the ducks destroyed the tomatoes and I created a meal for the ducks. When I swatted a fly, I destroyed it. When two flies mated, they created offspring. When a spider caught said flies, the flies were destroyed and the spider had created a meal. When I took a photo of the aforesaid incident, I created an image. When I called my brother out to see the flies and spider, we created entertainment for ourselves.
As a Christian, I have always been very familiar with the ideas of creation and destruction. But now, I could see it from a whole new point of view: that of a writer.
My brother saw it differently. It wasn't creation or destruction, but conversion from one form to another. From growing plant to meal; from buzzing pest to entertainment. Nothing can be created or destroyed, as his lovely laws of nature said. He saw it not as a writer but as a mad scientist.
Next time you are bogged down writing (or performing) pure action with no life or perspective, try looking at the action from the point of view of a writer, a mad scientist, a magician, a thief, a kestrel, a fly. You might find that unloading the dishes or fighting a witch aren't as mundane as they seem.
Some Perspectives You Might Try:
- Write about an event only in terms of creation and destruction
- Write about an event only in terms of wise choices or unwise choices
- Write about an event only in terms of how it applies to your writing
- Write about an event only in terms of how it affects your life
- Write about an event only in terms of how it affects the space-time continuum