Write what you know

Photo: Me journaling at the kitchen table Sept. 28, still fully bearded.

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The idea presented itself as they so often do, in a blast. I've been considering participating in NaNoWriMo¹ again for weeks, but didn't have any idea what the novel would be. This morning it presented itself.

Last night Danny and I ate a meal right out of the cookbook he brought me from San Francisco: recipes from around the world. I chose Capetown fruit and vegetable curry. It's the sort of thing I like to make at home. I love the flavour of curry, but usually they're too spicy for my constitution. Danny has the same problem. At home I can make them as mild as I like. I cut down the cayenne in the curry mixture, but it actually turned out too mild. The flavour was excellent, though: it's a mix of onions, garlic, ginger, zucchini, green beans, dried apricots, tart apples or pears, red bell pepper and, added at the last minute for texture, dried currants. Also some apricot conserve for sweetness. I've made very few vegetarian dishes I liked this much; definitely a make-again.

The recipe recommended a minted cucumber raita to accompany the entree, but remembering Danny isn't fond of cucumbers, I looked up a simple lassi raita on the internet.

Dessert was a few small wedges of pumpkin fudge from The Nutty Chocolatier. This stuff is elusive. I've only ever found it in the fall. It is absolutely delicious. It might sound like a weird combination, but this is a combo made in heaven.

Afterwards we watched a favourite movie of mine, Danny for the first time: Pulp Fiction. God, it makes me squirm! But I think the movie is more fun when you know where it's going. And you can watch for the weird peripheral things you miss on first viewing.

One of my favourite lines: "Don't look at me that way. I felt that look."

I'm fighting some kind of flu or cold: nasty body aches and a rare headache hit me yesterday afternoon. No other symptoms so far. Ibuprofen does the trick. But it's pouring rain here, doesn't look like a great day for getting out and doing some of the things we wanted. This weekend is the Guelph Arts Festival, plus the Studio Tour and Guelph Film Festival. So many things we could take in if we feel up to it, which I don't. Drat.

So this morning I crawled out of bed to do my handwritten journal, and Danny mentioned something about NaNoWriMo. He has a knitting friend who wants to try it. I've been debating it for weeks, ever since roosterbear and quillon's visit. Do I really want to commit so much time?

Yes. It's my life's ambition to be a published novelist. Last year I actually finished a draft for the first time in my life. Maybe I haven't done anything more with the product, but I still intend to. And the exercise is necessary.

But many of the scenarios playing through my mind didn't seem appropriate. Some of them would require too much research, which I don't have time for.

Then that old writer's saw played through my mind: "Write what you know."

And then I knew. Exodus International came to mind, the ex-gay ministry I used to attend when I was married, before I came out. The story started presenting itself to me, multi-faceted, with various characters worthy of development. A gay married man. His evangelical mother. His estranged father, a down-an-out painter. The gay romantic interest.² The wife. The teenage daughter. Various quirky characters he meets at the support group meetings. The main theme will be conformity versus authenticity. The romance will be ill-fated, but the story will end happily for the main character, coming to terms with himself and knowing what he has to do.

We're not talking fun-and-games here, like Tendril.³ This story will be hard to write.

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¹ National Novel Writing Month

² No, I didn't have a romantic affair during my marriage, or any sexual dalliances for that matter, but I was unusual. I can easily construct one in my imagination.

³ The novel I wrote last year, Tendril Through the Internet, was a young adult romp inspired by Alice Through the Looking Glass.

How to read my novel

To those who are interested in seeing all or part of my NaNoWriMo project, it will be posted in its entirety, as I did last year, behind a "friends only" filter in my fiction journal: blind_king. Posts will appear as a couple paragraphs with the rest behind a cut. If you want to get in on the fun, just add that journal and I'll add you back.

If you want to read Tendril Through Cyberspace, the table of contents is here.