Origins of a story
A few years ago I got offered free tickets to see Cindy Lauper sing at the, then still open, Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. The place was barely hanging on financially so I guess they were trying just about anything to get people to drive to the shore and gamble a little money. I was glad I went because it wasn’t Cindy with some big band, it was more of a stripped down version of her show where she took her time and shared some of the backstories about the songs she’d written.
For example her big hit “Time After Time” she explained was written about an old boyfriend who gave her a cheap clock as a gift and then dumped her. Late at night as she was lying in bed trying not to think of this bozo she could hear that clock ticking away from the other room. She took it to the bathroom, put it in the tub with a towel over the top and shut the door but she could still hear it ticking. Next time you hear the song on the radio listen to the lyrics and you’ll picture poor Cindy pulling her hair out over that boy and his noisy clock.
Anyway, sometimes people ask me where I come up with the ideas for this column? That’s easy, I just pay attention. I think there are stories to be told all around us if only we stop what we’re doing and look. When I got out of college in 1985 an old news veteran named Don Decker told me when I become a reporter someday to always take the back roads instead of the highways when I’m going places because “news” happens a lot more where people live and work, not where they drive. Decker was right of course.
More than 20 years ago when a nice man named Doug deLisle asked me if I wanted to write a weekly column I told him I’d never be able to come up with 52 ideas a year. That was 1,000 ideas and columns ago. Sometimes the people who read me religiously will send me suggestions, which is great, but often I just put down my smartphone, turn off the TV, clear my mind and wait for something to pop in.
Other times a story comes to me because of something I’d previously written. Every time I write something positive about someone or something I am depositing some good will in the bank of humanity and you never know who is paying attention. A few months ago a very brave state trooper named Mike Anson was on death’s door and his last act as a public servant was to speak to a journalist about the need for first responders from 9-11 to get themselves a health check. Mike had read some of the things I’d written before or seen my stories on TV and chose me to be his messenger. I was honored I got to tell his story.
Still on other occassions, especially when I’m facing a deadline, I’ll ask people for suggestions on what I should be writing about. The other day I was trying to come up with a fictional story for a local magazine and asked my son what I should write about? He said, “Maybe something on bullying.” At that moment he turned up the car radio because someone named Drake was singing a song he liked and I looked out the window and saw a birds nest. When I got home I wrote the words “Bully”, “Drake” and “Bird” on a piece of paper. Later that night I penned a story weaving together all three of those things. It’s about a little boy they call Drake who is nearly driven to suicide by bullies but then a bird intervenes. Silly as it may sound that’s how that story was born.
At the risk of sounding insane I also find some of the things I write come from a place I can’t explain or understand. I’ll have no clue what to write about, clear my mind, then wait for a snapshot to appear in my head. Once I pictured a little girl wearing one of those hospital bands around her wrist standing outside in a park trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue. I have no clue where that image came from but there it appeared in my head and it led me to write a story about her. I’ve had that happen several times and they all start with one very detailed image and the story builds from there. There is magic or perhaps a little divine intervention in this writing business I swear.
On the days where I’m short on magic I’d love to hear from you so if you have an idea for a column send it to the email listed at the bottom of this column. I can’t promise I’ll do it but I’ll certainly try.
Doug deLisle told me many years ago I could do this job if I took it one column at a time. He was a smart man and a very good writer. He was also right.