You know those people who just ARE. You take them to a pig roast and bonfire out in the wilds of the county and they wear pearls and spike heels? Or the slob you make a fabulous holiday meal for and they show up in sweat pants? The types of people that are who they are and they ain't who they ain't?
I'm not that kind of person.
It's nice to meet you.
I'm a chameleon.
Invite me to a pig roast and I've got the right pair of cowboy boots and my traveling ice chest of beer. Holiday dinner—break out the heels, a cute apron over my dress. Socializing with other writers . . . I can talk theory, craft, "the business" until I'm blue in the face. PTO meeting? I'm there. Hike? I've got the right shoes. Big city? I know how to blend. Sci Fi geeks? I am a Battlestar Galactica fan to the very end. Jazz? Miles Davis—Kind of Blue any day of the week. Sushi? Love it. Knowing the pig before I eat? I'm fine with that. Covered dish parties? I've got a great recipe for Frog Eye Salad. I watch Weeds, Mad Men, True Blood . . . and America's Got Talent. Hank William's Jr.? Brilliant. Nonfiction, YA, MG, contemporary, mystery, literary? Is it good? Whatever. I read it all.
So I call myself a chameleon. You might call me SCHIZOPHRENIC. And that would actually be okay because at heart, I'm just pretty laid back. The youngest of three, I really took to heart the adage: I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.
And I've got to tell you . . . chameleon/writer is just a really really awesome combination. I don't have to sit around and watch other people to "get my characters." I AM all my characters. And I'm always open to experimentation. I don't feel tied to one way of writing, one way of telling a story, because at the moment, my work is calling for all kinds of different mediums.
Is it inauthentic to be so many people at once? It's served me well in my life if nothing else. I blend in well, I get along with pretty much everyone. If you don't hurt my feelings too badly, I can forgive just about anything. In being so open to the world, I find that the world leads me in unexpected ways all the time. And on those new paths I always find something familiar in the unknown and feel right at home.
6 Comments on CHAMELEON, last added: 8/6/2010
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SCHIZOPHRENIC? No. Interesting? Yes. Depth of personality and experience, yes. Honest-to-goodness and real, yes.
Inauthentic? Absolutely not. You are far too real for that label!
Aw . . . thanks! Last we talked I think you had some broken ankles and a broken spirit? How many years ago was that :) ? Nice to see you've recovered in so many ways!
As a sister chameleon, I salute you. I also like to think that I have many forms of my "authentic" self. Plus we can lick our own eyeballs.
Yes, sister, the licking of eyeballs trumps everything else. Slurp. Slurp.
I can't imagine using the word "inauthentic" to describe you!
And how did I not discover, after 4 days of intense togetherness, that you are a Miles Davis fan? KIND OF BLUE is the soundtrack to my WIP, of course!
I guess we must have talked about ALMOST everything, Debbie!