By Rick Blechta
No, this week’s post title is not a reference to the 1969 song by Jethro Tull but I suppose it could act as a musical background, I suppose. Not familiar with this song? Click HERE to listen to it.
In my post two weeks ago now — more on that later —I spoke of coming to the realization that my current work in progress should not be set in the present but maybe as much as 35 years ago.
Since then I’ve been cogitating on when that when should be. My characters seem comfortable with somewhere between 1975 and 1980. That choice would necessitate a huge change in the crime that drives the story, but I have a few ideas how that might work out okay.
If, however, I went with the later ’80s and 1990, I would have to change the original storyline less.
So that’s one conundrum I’m facing, the one that will have to be solved first.
The other issue is how much I don’t remember the ’70s, ’80s, or even the ’90s. I mean, come on, Blechta, you lived through it, didn’t you? I’m beginning to think I sleepwalked through it, though. There is just so much I don’t remember.
I’ve taken to reading about it as if the whole era took place before I was born. It’s the only way to refresh my memory enough that I can write about it authoritatively. How weird is that?
I’m currently on 1983 and looking at what changes to technology took place that year, and it’s astonishing to me how long some of the electronics that are so much a part of our lives has been around, even though much of it was pretty crude at the time.
I’d like to say as I research it’s all coming back to me, but it’s not. I feel as if I’m an archeologist of my own life. I could blame it on having a young family at the time, working far too hard for too many hours, or just not paying attention, but I lived through this stuff! It seems so foreign to me.
So I hope to nail down my time period and get back to work. I’ve written a few experimental scenes based on how I’m leaning towards changing the plot, and while it’s been elucidating in some regards, it’s hardly providing any forward motion.
We’ll get back to this in next week’s post.
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As for last week’s non-post, I was under the weather with a dizzy spell, something I’ve suffered with the past three years right around this time and continuing into June, then disappearing. Apparently I have loose crystals in my right inner ear. It’s all very boring, but the doctors are working towards a solution. However, when one of these spells occur, I’m laid flat out until it subsides, and last Tuesday was a bad one. Sorry ’bout that!
Rick, so sorry about your malady, but "crystals in the inner ear" does sound like a good start for a title or a clue or a solution (everything is material, right?). As for conjuring up those times past, don't forget to include a cell phone the size of an elephant.
ReplyDeleteI sympathize with your dizziness plight. I have the same problem occasionally. the first time it happened I was laid out for two days, unable to move my head at all without throwing up. It was the first time in my life I thought it would be better to die than to have to live like this forever. Fortunately, the few episodes I've had since then have only lasted for a few miserable hours. It's the same loose crystal deal. I understand there are exercises you can do to make it stop, but who can move enough to do them when the horror strikes?
ReplyDeleteAnna and Donis, many thanks for your good wishes.
ReplyDeleteHuge cell phones, hmmm… I remember those. Maybe I could find a place for one -- just for old time's sake. ;)
GUYS. HERE'S THE MAGIC EXERCISE. It only takes one movement. It was developed by a doctor here in Colorado. I had the same problem. I was put through the movement and had immediate relief. I asked the doctor how often I had to do it. And he said that was it. And it was.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhWmsHOwjA4