Metagenomics

is a word I saw yesterday, and wondered about.

But what I want to talk about is this: What is the story you were meant to write?

When I sat in for the last fifteen minutes of Roger's class, he had already thrown that question out to the room. I didn't have to respond, but I scribbled in my notebook anyway. I'm not sure that I found the answer.

If there is just one story, are we simply rewriting it over and over again? If there's more than one, which one weighs more? And, of course, in which form should it be told?

I thought I might take a look at what I've written over the past two years and pull from those themes. Contemporary issues in my writing, if you will.

The predominant ones seem to be:

• Power struggles in relationships: romantic, familial, platonic. Nick and Kristina, Nick and Pete, my YA protag and her BFF, short stories about crazy women and passive men. Both heavy and humorous.
• Departure from the known land into the unknown. Not a willing departure, persay, but a necessary one. I think this is coming closer.
• The borderlands near death and how those left behind react and restructure themselves.
• Athletics as a metaphor for joy, growing up, alternate means of victory. Noise and solitude.

I expect that these will change as my life changes. But they seem to be a universal starting point.

What about you?

...

#140: Broadbelt Guitar Duo, "Seven of Nine" (Tony will enjoy the scientific fun facts in the description)