As an aspiring writer of fiction I make up life, but often I encounter conversation, overhear witty remarks, or read something in the margins of a library book or on the bathroom stall that is funnier, more moving, or simply more clever than anything I could make up. In truth, most of writing is absorbing the world around you and constructing it in a meaningful way so it befits the writer in even the most ordinary circumstances (like airports) to take notes. An important skill for a writer to have is eavesdropping or a habit of collecting scraps of overheard conversation, phrases, or written words from everyday life.
Fortunately the fine art of eavesdropping has become remarkably easy with the invention of the cell phone and the blurred line between public and private. This blog is dedicated to my collection of loose threads or little bits of conversation and life that for now have no home in a story or as a line of dialogue but are too good to keep to myself. Maybe someday a character of mine will have occasion to write, “This time I really do love him” on page 37 of Bee Season, but for now it’s here for you and perhaps you will be inspired to also start listening and looking, collecting words like pennies and saving for a rainy day.
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