Most people are aware that I’m a writer. Unlike most people’s idea of what a writer is, I don’t write fiction. Throughout my career, I’ve been a newspaper reporter and trade magazine editor and writer. After I was forced to retire due to disability at 62, I spent a few years recovering from a number of physical problems, but I did begin writing this blog. It was greatly expanded after my ex decided to divorce me when I went on a road trip to try to discover why my life was so fucked up. During the trip, I found I enjoyed the nomadic life and after the house was sold, I used my share to buy a pick-up truck and a small travel trailer.
The ultimate goal was to drive around the country and by volunteering at state and national parks, I would have no expenses except for food, gas, car payments and insurance. The parks would provide a site, electric, sewer, water and sometimes cable and internet service.
But before all that, I headed on a final road trip from New York State to the Florida keys visiting friends. One of my stops was a campground in St. Marys, Georgia. I really liked this place, which was a mile from the Florida border. I decided to spend the month of March there, recovering from a rather rough Upstate New York winter.
There are a number of local attractions there including a national seashore, and other national park attractions. The office had a number of brochures including one for a gambling boat out of Brunswick. It offered free boarding and two meals over a six-hour voyage. Two of those hours were used to make our way beyond the three-mile border limit into the Atlantic and back, while the ocean was quite calm. The other four hours were for gambling. I had my best night ever, winning about $500 playing $10 blackjack and hitting another $250 in a couple of slot machines. It was certainly enough to pay for campground fees for the rest of the trip.
But a minor memory of the trip returned to me more than a decade later. After the casino shut down, I went to the top deck to get away from the smoke-filled rooms. A woman whom I had met on the trip out came on deck. Early on the way out, she had lost her phone and was very upset until I found it under the table she was previously sitting at. She was probably in her mid-30s and very beautiful with her excellent hair and makeup and a lovely dress. I asked her how she did and she answered “not good” and that was the end of our discussion as we quietly sat there gazing at the stars and the harbor. I really didn’t think much about her though I enjoyed the smell of her perfume as the breeze from the boat’s movement sent it to me.
As I said, I had won big and wrote about that in my blog. I only mentioned her in a couple of paragraphs.
But more than a dozen years later the memory came back to me for some reason. And I realized there was probably a short story in that memory. I remember the man she was with was rather plain – bald and wearing an especially ugly pair of glasses. He wore a dress shirt and slacks. And I thought about how much out of his league she was.
So the writer in me began creating many scenes about this woman. I’ve never done this before and I suddenly realized this could be how fiction writers got their ideas.
So here are some thoughts about story ideas:
She was stunning. But throughout the trip, I never saw her gambling. She was clearly bored.
So why did she go on this voyage?
Perhaps she was simply unhappy that the date wasn’t what she expected. She was wearing a beautiful dress that revealed a beautiful body. In Vegas and Atlantic City, people dressed up. They went to shows and gambled in beautiful casinos. Here the entertainment was a guy with a keyboard. He wasn’t bad, but he certainly wasn’t Tom Jones or Wayne Newton. And most of the men wore shirts and slacks combined with many rednecks wearing too-small tee shirts, well-worn jeans and work boots. And she certainly wasn’t paying much attention to her date as he played poker.
So why was she with him at all? Perhaps this was just a very disappointing first date and I imagined the discussion in the car ride back. As I said the theme was that she was way out of his league and she would be telling him so.
But then I took this a step further. Was this man renting her for the evening? I’ve been to Las Vegas many times on business and I suddenly realized she was dressed in a similar manner to the hookers who cruised casinos. Unlike streetwalkers, their fashion sense clearly showed the goods, but not semi-nudity. I supposed he could be spending thousands for her escort services. Perhaps that was why she was so crazed about the loss of her phone – and a very important part of her business.
But that story idea was a little off too. Unless he told her not to bother him, she didn’t pay any attention to him – especially after the casino closed. That didn't match the behavior of an escort. ,
I finally returned to the hope-disappointment theme. Was this an office romance? Could she have been the boss? Or was she sleeping her way up her career ladder and running out of time?
I remembered an incredibly lovely receptionist at an office I worked at after finishing high school. She was a former Miss America contestant, representing a southern state. She used her southern charms to keep visitors happy while waiting for appointments. In her early 40s, she was never given a promotion after working there for a decade and her looks were starting to age. I was a kid and I played on the company’s basketball and softball teams and the guys always speculated if she was sleeping with one of the big shots.
But the bottom line is this: we have a female protagonist who makes a considerable effort to please a man, and is disappointed. Hell, just how many romance novels use that same theme. Perhaps, at the age of 75, I should write soft-core romance books? I’ve certainly spent way too much time dealing with disappointment.
