Being in the Middle is the Safest Place to Be!

"Being in the MIDDLE is the safest place to be." I heard that line in a movie yesterday and it makes a lot of sense and it kind of explains my life, and this blog, in a nutshell. I am tired of being safe which is why, from this day forward when people ask me what I do, I am going to say that I am a writer. Because I AM A WRITER from now on. And, whether I make money in another way, I am going to write all the time and be a writer first and foremost. If I look deep inside of myself that is what I have wanted to be most of my life. I am going to be what I have wanted to be forever. I am not going to be a fireman or a ballerina or an actor or a singer because that is not what I was put here to do. I was meant to write. Right?

I got so engrossed in writing my short story yesterday (for that contest I told blogged you about) that I missed most of the St. Louis Cardinals' game. I wrote the entire short story and now I am editing it. It needs to be about three minutes long (when read) so I have to cut about half of my flowery prose out of it. It needs to be 500 - 600 words long and it was 736 when I got done and then I got it down to 665 and then 612 and now I have to cut about 30- 40 more words. Luckily, I am pretty good at editing though it is easier to edit other people's work than one's own. When you write something you kind of agonize over the prose and the descriptive words and it is almost like cutting off your own fingers or limbs sometimes to eliminate some of your own thoughts. Those were just flowery words that could be cut if I need to edit the blog. But, I will do it and be happy with the final product regardless. I am new at the whole short story thing but have entertained it for several months so this is either just a fire under me or destiny. I still have about ten days before I need to submit the story. If I can write one story per day maybe I have a better chance of winning the contest with ten stories. Or, maybe that is just looking needy - which, as we all know, I am.

 I am gonna have to work "sluggard" into my everyday vernacular 

I slept pretty well last night. I did wake-up in the MIDDLE of the night and, when I did, I hit the little button that turns the little on my watch on to see what time it was. I knew full-well what I was going to see though. I was off by two minutes in my guess... it was 03:02; I figured it was 03:00. Of course, it would be after three because the witching HOUR is between 03:00 to 04:00. Is it a coincidence that a shooting we had in my town last week happened at 03:16? The only things good that happen at that time of night/day are bakery related. I had always heard that the only people out that tome of day are cops and crooks. Supposedly, black magic is the most effective during the witching hour. It is probably just the time when we are in the MIDDLE of our night's sleep and, when we become MIDDLEaged like me, we have to go potty se we wake-up. So, when we are awake and we hear weird noises like the water softener recycling or the sump pump going-off or a car door in the distance slamming we equate it to wrong-doing because who in their right minds, other than delivery people and or bakers crooks or police officers...would be up at this time? It may also go back to when people slept three or four hours and then got up and did housework... and then go back to sleep for another three or four hours. Benjamin Franklin did this and he seemed to have gotten a lot of good things done. Didn't he also say, "early to bed, early to rise make a man healthy wealthy and wise?" He sure had a lot to say about sleeping but, I hear-tell he was a lady's man. I have also always heard stories that we are related to him but, if he was a true lady's man, maybe there are LOTS of us that are legitimately or illegitimately related to him. I guess that is why we call him one of the Founding Fathers. Sorry, I have a penchant for bad puns.

I have some things I need to get done before I get some other things done. I hope you have a fantastic day. It is a bit overcast here right now but I like the dark and gloomy just as much as I do the bright and sunny. I guess the weather is a lot like me (most of us probably) - sometimes I am pleasant and sometimes I am not so pleasant. And, like the weather, a lot of the time I cannot predict which weather Matt you might get. Thank you for coming-by. I hope I brightened your day, even if just for a second, because you always brighten mine. TTTT...MITM (out) TA!