# 24 Be True To Yourself

While in New Zealand, I was invited to a workshop of a local artist. I stood in amaze as I looked at the things he and his crew have created. The attention to detail astounded me. Mushrooms with little lines under them the way real mushrooms look. Horses with tails that look like real tales, not plasticine. Incredible works of art.

I went to an artisans market in the same area the next couple of days and watched sword makers, and dress makers, and all sorts of artists at work. Again, loving details embellished most works. The imagination of these people wiped me out.

I was invited to two artists' gallery openings. Again, the shear imagination of the people involved took my breath away. I went to bed the first night thinking of the dragon in 'Blue' and realizing I have to go out and buy some plasticine and make him for myself. So I really know him.

The urge to change my way of writing, to make it more graphic, more descriptive, rolled through me. I took out 'Blue' and started reading it again and thinking about adding this, that and the other thing. I stopped.

"Wait a minute," I said to myself. "this is not me. For me as a reader, I skip over long descriptive phrases. I want to see the action. I want to know what happens next. I don't want to see the dog pissing on the side of the road."

Some folks want it all. I don't. I know there must be others like me out there. I've sometimes gone back and re-read a book cause I had to finish it fast and then wanted to savor it, once I knew how it ended. (I'm not the kind who goes and reads the last page first. *shudders*)

So - Be True To Myself. Write it the way I'd want to read it. The way I like to read a story. I'm happy I've done that with 'Blue.' Granted, I've got some stuff I've got to add. Like there are two kinds of dragons in the story and I want to show that each type has its own way of flying and sound and smell. That excites me. 

At the moment, I'm typing up the new story, tentatively titled, "The Other Side." I really like it. I also am doing it in first person present tense, which I have NEVER ever tried before. But it's a dark and nasty little tale of loss and this makes it more real, more alive, more tense. I think.

Life is always thoughtful.