Part 1 of two, and three of six. A lot of movies and TV tonight. And ghost pick-up lines. For us, the long hard road of recordings is almost done. For you, it’s barely halfway. Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
Dear TMTH, Have you ever seen an actual deer in your headlights? If so, what happened next? –Beth
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I had hoped the title of this episode was caused by the deer question itself. Oh well.
Yes, I was driving at the intersection of Dubuque and Oakdale, and a deer had become frozen some moments earlier (presumably in someone elses headlights) and was drooling very hard, I carefully drove around it and continued to run my errand. Coming back from my errand ~15 minutes later, there were about 6 people who had gotten out of their cars and lifted the deer off the road. I think they were maybe trying to make it be un-stunned, but I couldn’t imagine that was a moment you really wanted to be close to the deer for. I was surprised it was frozen for so long, and that anyone would think it was a good idea to move this deer. I was wondering if they normally stay frozen for so long.
I agree with Tony, people drive like they’re invincible, and we’re NOT. On the bright side, although the number of miles Americans drive has been steadily increasing, the annual number of fatalities has remained fairly steady right around 40,000. So by some measures, we aren’t reducing the number of fatalities, but because the number of miles driven is so much higher than say, in the 1970s, it has proportionally become much safer (mostly having to do with additional safety features in cars, not that drivers themselves are getting better).
Oh, wow! So it really happens like that with deer? Weird…
Just to clarify, it’s not because I think my family stories are uninteresting that I don’t consider writing a book about them, it’s because I don’t think I could write such a book. I’m an analytic writer for the most part. I do tell these stories individually either in person or in writing, but have no idea how one would string them together.
Practice! Trust me… it takes lots and lots of practice.
Thanks for clarifying! That is how you’ve explained it to me in the past. I should have been clearer about that. My apologies.
Fact is, my faux pas expresses, really, my response to the point. I know why you say you’d struggle with those things in writing the stories down, but I routinely see you not struggle with those things when you write the stories down. Plus, editors help with just the kinds of concerns you have, making coherent the memoirs of people who have far less storytelling skill than you have (and far less compelling stories to tell). Even if you wrote it down as poorly as you imagine (which I’m doubtful of), an editor would still see the significant value of it and know how to get your stories to where they need to be for publication. So then, in my head, I still sense a lack of confidence in the original material, like it’s not interesting enough to shine through a clumsy presentation of it, when, in truth, it really is that interesting.
But, again, I should have been clearer about all of that.
Jas, I’ve never really written anything, but I think you could do it. Start one story at a time and don’t worry about an overall book-narrative. It could end up as a series of purposely short stories that you can read at bedtime or while waiting at the doctor’s office. I think William’s right that if you want the end result to be woven into an overall biographical novel you could get help with that part (if it turns out you need it), but the first step is documenting the individual stories!
As someone who has been writing things, I concur, this is the best way to start. 🙂
Thanks to both of you for the advice. I’ll give that a try some time.