Saturday, December 30, 2006

Looking Back or Looking Forward

ORION sailing along with jib and mizen. I am taking the picture looking back and my husband is looking forward.

7:30 am and 71 degrees.
In a picture.
The difference between Gordon and me.
I look back and he looks forward.
I analyze and reflect. He predicts and estimates.
I dwell on history and he considers the future.
I use the past in my writing. The emotions I have felt and seen.
Situations turn into the premises of my novels.
And Gordon thinks ahead. He dreams.
He is an architect and creates buildings that will exist someday.
Just not now.
It takes both of us to sail ORION.
One looking back at where we have been.
The other looking ahead to where we go.
How do you travel?
How do you write?
Looking ahead to the future?
Immersed in the past?
Or something in between?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have to admit I look both ways - espeically before crossing the street. LOL
I write historical fiction (a series about Alexander the Great and a book set in the Middle ages during the ill-fated 8th Crusade, and futuristic sci-fi full of high tech inventions on future worlds. I even have contemporary books. I look everywhere, lol.

ORION said...

Oh, I like that. Looking everywhere.

Zany Mom said...

I look everywhere. Sure, I delve into my own emotional past to bring life to my characters. But I'm always looking. People watching. Where I get ideas for new characters. Based on someone I've seen in town, on a bus, plane, hospital, TV, etc. Maybe a look, an attitude, an occupation or preoccupation...stuff from real life that I make larger than life, in fiction...

Bernita said...

A perfect balance.

The thing is...to see what you look at.