Into a Writer's Head

I'm cool!

I had a discussion with a couple of my friends last night about whether or not one can proclaim herself cool, or not. You may think this is a bit of an odd conversation, but hey, that's what you get for wanting to visit my head.
With all the craziness of field work winding down for the quarter, and going back to class, and all the papers I have to write in the next couple of days you would think I have been completely in school mode. You would be wrong. What do I do when faced with the not-so-pleasant task to doing homework? I think about new book ideas. Wait a minute! you say. Aren't you in the middle of a book right now? The answer is yes. But as most of the writers I know will tell you, we often have more than one storyline percolating well before we finish our current Works in Progress (from here out: WIP). I have been worried lately because I did NOT have any new ideas going through this wonderful brain of mine. Then, while driving around running errands and heading out to meet a friend to walk, I was struck by TWO thunderbolts of inspiration. Whether either one will pan out still waits to be seen, but they are ideas...and therefor the well is not dry.
Which brings me back to the whole I am cool conversation. My new ideas led me back to think about school, both elementary and high school, and how it forms our self image as we move on into life. I have spent the last two weeks observing fifth graders at a local public school. School, of course, is where cool and uncool are designated. I've long been fascinated with what makes someone cool and someone else not. Maybe because I don't think I was cool in school (and likely as not, my sister would fully agree). Now, out in the real world, a little part of me is reminded of this phenomenon as I shuffle back and forth between the real world and elementary school. I've always been a bit of a geek. There you have it. My big confession for the year. I was the girl all through school who walked around with her nose in a book. I would rather be reading than out playing soccer. Of course, my lack of coordination may have something to do with this. So I started thinking about this again the other day, and I came to the realization that I am cool. Why? How is this possible? Simple really. Because I said so. And because all my friends are cool, and they would not hang out with me at a dueling piano bar for 6 hours if I weren't cool. So there you have. Yes, you can make a self-proclamation about coolness. I am cool...and damn anyone who says differently!

posted by Erin @ 10:59 AM