There are little romance subplots all around me irl and I don’t have the time to turn any of them into novels
Today I went to my favorite Italian restaurant and was seated at the table nearest the kitchen. We noticed a change to the menu. The list of pastas had been replaced by just “pasta of the day.” We asked what the pasta of the day was. The waiter told us it was a mystery. So we ordered it, and when it came it was pasta with eggs and bacon, and I was so surprised and delighted by this unexpected whimsy that I started to clap. And then I noticed the chef watching me from the doorway and smiling. He had clearly come out wanting to see what people’s reactions would be.
I’m not saying I love the chef or that the chef loves me. I am saying that is a seed with which to grow a romance that I don’t have time to write.
Romance seedling of the day:
Tonight I went to a party and a woman asked me my name.
“Anna,” I said.
“This confirms my theory,” she said loudly, to the entire room. People stopped to listen. “ALL Anna’s are drop dead gorgeous!”
I felt v flattered. I asked for her name.
She flashed me a grin. “Anna.”
Irl, do I love her and does she love me? No. But this is the seed of another romance book I don’t have the time to write.
I was miserable. At a parade! All of my friends were drunk and misbehaving and smelled of rancid tequila. I felt alone and about a million years old. The sun was glaring daggers into my eyeballs.
And then! At this parade! A very large beautiful man I didn’t know! Saw me squinting! Said, “I’m can block the sun for you” and stepped in front of me. My sun-blindness cleared into a vision of his gentle smile.
He was a mathematics professor! Very sober, soft-spoken, kind. Did not insult my drunk friends but also stood carefully apart from them. The perfect balance.
Do I love him? No. But he’s a romantic hero in a book somewhere in the multiverse.
Yes! This was a post about getting into the writing mindset.
I wasn’t trying to share special memories or make a statement about the goodness of humanity (totally fine if that’s what you got from this!). But this is a tool any writer could add to their toolbox: finding tidbits from life not merely through neutral observation but by observing the world through the lens of your own writing philosophy.
I write romance books. The romance genre at its best gives every kind of person the opportunity to be the hero of their own story. For me, observing the world through my writing philosophy means acknowledging the heroism intrinsic in us all. Thinking: What if this person were the romantic hero? Why would someone fall in love with them? For folks writing different kinds of stories, the approach may differ, but it’ll still be creatively generative.
I think most importantly, it would give us the leverage to say “no”. To walk away from bad jobs and abusive managers. To refuse to work in unsafe environments. To demand better pay.
To demand better, because the options are no longer “suck it up” or “die”.
and that’s why there’s so much resistance to implementing it - capitalism wants workers who don’t have a choice
[ID: A tweet by _aceinthehole that reads: “yes universal basic income would allow us to survive between jobs but it would also allow us to grieve, after loss, to move, to care for others, to have children, to create art, to start new businesses, to be ill, to be disabled, to rest, to rest, to rest”]
Freedom to get the fuck out of abusive situations, god DAMMIT. So many people are trapped.
honestly the human brain is so small that you *will* forget how much beauty there is out there to experience unless you leave your house every three days. ik its fucked up but i promise its true
my brain, trying to deceive me: there’s literally nothing outside!!!!! it’s the same neighborhood it’s always been !!!!!
me, tying my shoes: shut up shut up!!!! by god we’re gonna try to find magic in mundane today !!!!
