Day Dreaming in My KItchen

By Keith Fisher

Back in the late nineteen-eighties I started recording movies and special programs from television. In the back of my mind I imagined a condition where, for some reason we couldn’t get television reception. I would have plenty of things to see as long as the VCR worked.

We now live in a more high tech world. We have DVD and digital television. In our house we have many television sets, (All analog). Three are connected to a box that converts from digital. The others sit idol. I never realized how much I depended on a TV signal in the kitchen while making dinner. Now that signal is gone, I miss it.

While making lunch the other day, I watched one of those videos I mentioned, and I remembered my thoughts on having videotapes to watch because there is no TV. I never realized there were so many great shows in the past. I’ve found a new way of procrastinating.

I turned on a Bonanza TV movie, while making breakfast and sat there in my kitchen for two hours. (I had to see how it came out, didn’t I?) Anyway I watched a character that showed me an object lesson.

The character, played by Dirk Blocker, is a newspaperman. Even though he hates violence, he continually puts himself into harms way. An intriguing story piques his interest and he has to find the facts.

When I’m writing, I often feel like that Dirk’s character. I let my protagonist lead me into uncertain places and outcomes. I have to see where the story can go. Like the Bonanza character, I get into trouble and have to start over. Sometimes I fall into a hole and I need help to get out. That’s when my critique group throws me a rope.

Even with the holes, I prefer to let my characters take me on a journey. Like the movie I watched I have to find out how my story ends.

Good luck with your writing—see you next week.