I've been Doing some Thinking

Something happened today. Wow, I just summarized the perfect opening line for every novel in existence. Because of course something happens everyday. I'm just joking of course, but there is a deeper truth to this statement. One could (and maybe always should) ask: 'What happened today... exactly?' Why? Because
without examples and actual reality based situations and details the generic 'Something happened today' might sound like some well thought out philosophical statement, like a Zen koen, but it remains aloof of any tangible human experience you can actually do something with.

This distinction I would not have been able to make without my wife Nancy. We were walking down the lively Bangkok streets, rich in activities ranging from party goers to late night construction workers, food vendors to the rats that go along with them. We went out for a coffee and a slice of chocolate cake in a nearby bakery cafe and to just talk. On the way over there she shared with me a realization that would set my head spinning for the rest of the evening (up until now as I retell the story). She said: 'I am a doer, you are a thinker.' And with those fact-laced words all was said. I mean, she said more and I asked more and we ended up chatting about a whole range of other topics as well, enjoying our coffee and cake by the way. But as profound moments within a relationship go, that was way up there.

It explained so much, or at least I allowed my hyper-associative mind to suggest. It says much about how her life revolves around work while I go around looking for jobs - and mostly get hired on sheer luck - and with a lot of soul searching in between. It speaks volumes about why she prefers to vent about frustrations and problems, while I internalize them and seek root causes.It shouts out why she will try fifty different ways to solve any given problem, while I fail to find a single one because I'm too busy analyzing them. It also suggests where our differences lie with writing. When I presented her with my Wall of Scofield and a dozen different documents outlining all elements of Simon & Sally's world she got confused and said: 'I don't want any of this. I'm just going to write.' Likewise when I got depressed a couple of blogs ago, because I found little motivation in going through my first draft chronologically, it made sense that I'd feel happy again re-thinking the plot.

Nancy is a doer. I am a thinker. She gets right in there and gets messy. I ponder about higher purposes and larger consequences from afar. The problem obviously one would assume is that doers never learn from their mistakes or fail to see the deeper core problems of issues, while thinkers never actually get off their butt and deliver. To a large degree this is true. What to do about this? I don't really know. We both meditate on occasion and I'd like to think that Shamatha/breathing meditation is good for me (concentrating on doing), while Vipassana/insight meditation is good for her (concentrate on deep seeing). But an attachment to a personal trait (or self-imposed conditioning) is hard to unlearn. Maybe I should spontaneously do more and think less, while she does the opposite? I truly have no answer. When it comes to writing it's easier. My sincerest hope is that Nancy will accept my findings on blind faith why certain mechanics within Simon's story are crucial to its success. On the other hand I must accept her kick in my behind if I'm procrastinating too much to get the damn thing written and published. Here we could work well together.

But now I do wonder. I feel that most stories out there are written with gusto, passion and a feel of organic flow. You know, like the the writer just sat down and started writing. A doer. Does this mean that all the thinkers then indeed thought too much and did too little and thus never got around to publication? Crap. Because I feel that with all the thinking and structuring beforehand I have a killer story to tell that is grand and intricate in its scope. Think 'Lost' in YA book form. But what if in order to write naturally you need to do more and think less, thus allowing the characters to come to life? With all respect to George Lucas and the late Robert Jordan: I don't want to create a universe that alienates whole audiences, simply because the world is more engaging than its characters.

Because then I should better simply write: 'Something happened today' and save myself the time and effort of becoming a published author.