I don’t know if other writers have noticed this, but hanging out with random people–say, at an event like the bar mitzvah I attended this past weekend in Philly–is even tougher than it used to be. Sure, we can chalk a lot of this up to the fact that these are all unrelated folks, coming together for a brief period of time to schmooze, eat, and then scatter. But for me, being with normal people and making conversation was just . . . weird. It took me some time to figure out how to be around people again: you know, the niceties of chit-chat and all that. Although I’m shy, I’m not hopeless and, in the past, being a shrink was somewhat helpful because most of us are shy and/or a bit off (a little like some writers I know, in fact) and we’re taught how to talk to folks to get them talking. In that kind of social situation, being a shrink’s been a godsend.
This weekend, though, I felt the disconnect for a lot longer than usual. It was just something I noticed about myself. I don’t think it has any deep psychological meaning to it other than a) I’m deep into my next book and would much rather have conversations with those guys and b) I spend most of my day alone and in my head, having conversations with imaginary people, who only sometimes behave themselves. But when you’re carefully scripting a conversation to be read, you become accustomed to thinking of the next line and the line after that and so on. Do characters get uppity and say whatever the hell they feel like? Sure–and in this way, it’s a bit like real life, but only a bit.
In real life, you have to gauge facial expressions, body posture, and all that jazz which then becomes incorporated into your work. Making the switch from all internal to a mix of the two is a challenge. I’ll bet this is one of the reasons Dickens used that mirror so much, not only to become his characters–Dickens was quite the budding thespian–but to solidify this shift from external to internal.
Anyway, it was just something I noticed about myself. I do wonder if other writers feel the same.
***
The Sunday cake: in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I decided on a Guiness stout chocolate cake with semisweet ganache. I wish I’d thought to take a picture before I ladled on all that ganache (I worry it’s too much, but my husband assured me that there’s no such thing as too much chocolate) because I used another new bundt pan. While this cake wasn’t the one I made, you can see those beautiful pleats.
Mine was similarly splendid. Winslow certainly seems to approve.
I have been thinking about this recently, as well. I was at a dinner party last week and realized that most of my anecdotes these days begin with “I just read a tweet about…” or “oh, this author/blogger just wrote a post about….” or “No, I know The Hunger Games is technically considered a book for teenagers, but it’s REALLY GOOD, and you should read it!!”
And then everybody’s eyes probably glaze over. But that’s the world I spend most of my time in now. I guess next time I know I’m going to a social event, I’ll have to go do something highly entertaining first so that I can talk about it instead.
Oh, I don’t know; I think reading is highly entertaining. But then again, I’m prejudiced 😉
I don’t think it’s that YOU have to be entertaining so much as practicing the art of reading social cues and understanding that most people don’t spend all day in their own heads, you know?
That cake looks lovely – I bet it tasted devine. 🙂
Your comments re: getting out of one’s head as a writer interest me. I write either in the wee hours when I should be sleeping or when I can distract my kids with something. When I am writing while still surrounded by people, it is much easier to feel “normal” but much harder to “hear” my characters.
Such is the life of a writer – forever caught between the worlds inside and outside of our heads. 🙂
I haven’t tasted the cake and may never. It was whisked away to the hubby’s lab for his crew 🙂
And “normal?” I don’t think I’ve been to that land for many years now 😉
“my husband assured me that there’s no such thing as too much chocolate”
Smart man – you should keep him 😉
Winslow approves, too, and it can be mighty difficult to win a cat’s approval!
LOL. That cat has it pretty darned good.
I went to a family reunion recently (Well, I was to go forced really) and really I don’t know if it’s worth the free food. I mean between someone forcing religion on me and me trying to read it’s really hard! Well the ironic thing was I was reading Ashes (I don’t really need to explain who the author is, y’know?) And my aunt asks if she could skim it, about a quarter through her skim she frowned and said I shouldn’t be reading ‘such things.’ I stayed up until 11 o’ clock and finished the book. Good read! And by the way thanks for for the laugh, it was funny to see my aunt cry out upon reading this.
That’s just too funny! I’m so glad that I was able to provide you with double-duty entertainment 😉