I do like to write. I find it very satisfying to take an ordinary day and turn it into a crime or mystery. Let me explain. Coffee shops are profuse in downtown Ottawa. I like to go and sit there with my notebook. I watch people going by and describe them physically and make up little plots about them. This amuses me, although I hope nobody catches me.
You see, a man walking who is bulky could become a savior or a creep, depending on which way me plotting mind is working that day. I like to twist things sometimes because although I do the usual evaluating other people do. "Oh, that looks like a typical man. Family. Twenty years on the job." Suppose I had a story about someone who fools people into thinking he's good.
It is true that you can see people on the street you don't think well of, someone walking around without his shirt on, or long, stringy hair. But these people, as repellent as they seem are actually great characters when you twist them.
It's not all about making white black or black white, but rather about the unexpected, which I find is necessary to writing. The big man with dirty hair? He could be just off from some kind of work, like undercover policeman.
So I enjoy my daily outings to jot down the crowd of the downtown, there's so many interesting people and language is another thing to pick out. A conversation in Polish could be about anything on the page, two people knowing that no one can speak that difficult language and feel they're safe. But wait! The person walking behind them. The older lady with the Maltese Terrier, spent two years in Poland, she knows they're trying to cover up an insurance scam.
Well, that's all for now, my notebook is ready. It's a nice, hot day and that should bring out all the sun seekers. Just right for a plot about an older woman who gets heatstroke and....
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