Wasted time

Writers are the luckiest people in the world. Don't let anyone ever tell you different. All I have to do is close my eyes and I can hear my mother and other relatives tell me that I waste so much of my time just dreaming. Oh, those moments, hours, months, years of daydreaming taught me how to construct plots and characters. They were not wasted, not at all. We as writers are lucky in what people see as a huge waste of time such as daydreaming, is our bread and butter.

I think all writers should be able to deduct all books as a tax deduction and not just some that are directly related to the craft. Writers need to read including anything that looks interesting. We are lucky in that most of us love to read, but it is a necessity for us to do so. I wrote a story about a character who was Lithuanian-American. Luckily, I had just read a book of Lithuanian recipes and used one for the story. I won a prize for that story. Everyone asked me if I was Lithuanian. No, not at all.

I take trips and the details of my trips always end up in some way in my stories and books. I think writers should be able to deduct those trips and not just those that are directly connected to what they are working on. I took a series of trips to the deserts of California to work some archaeology digs. I used that information for years after it happened. It was something I did as a volunteer. I still use the information I obtained on those trips although I have not been there for a long time.

Writers use everything in their lives in contrast to other occupations. I used the experience of childbirth and raising children, buying and fixing a house, working in 9 to 5 jobs and those jobs that were more hours. I use everything including my walks on hiking trails. I use my experience in fixing meals both in those that worked out and those that did not. Occasionally, I go to theater parties in Ashland, Oregon and I use that too and not just the plays.

Sometimes, it is not old messages from parents that are in my brain but ones that I created for myself such as I wasted time not writing but walking in the park. I love to spend time with my grandchildren especially my youngest who loves to go to the train station and watch the trains. I am sure he doesn't think it is wasted time. I don't either, but I use those experiences too. When I do tell myself that I am wasting time, I just have to think about it and I always discover that there was something important happening then. As I said, writers are the luckiest people in the world. Nothing in our life goes into the trash bin.