FIVE DAYS IN MARCH
DAY 3
Remember the burning of the book that you were so interested in?
An Asian woman sitting behind me at a Jewish play said, “She burned the book. We’re not interested in her anymore. We wanted the book.”
Out in full view, in the long driveway, sat a fifty-five gallon drum barbecue grill. We had a half cord of wood in the garage. Sometimes we used it for grilling. Sometimes we used it for Urban Campfires. Then one day we used it for something else.
In a celebratory flourish, me and Steve – champagne glasses ready – burned the book. Page by page, then clump by clump, then the last page.
An academy award performance. Best film, best actor and best supporting actor. Best sound effects (yes, I brought a music component out to the driveway), best special effects. Best costume design – yes, we dressed for it. Best of everything.
Why did we win the best in all categories?
Because it convinced at every level, every person. So much so, that when we went to that Jewish play, an operative was planted behind me to make sure that I heard, in as few words as possible, what her bosses thought of the burning of the book.
Fact is, we didn’t burn anything but a blank ream of paper.
I still have the book.
Most people don’t care anything about YOU. What they care about is what you write and how you write it.
If you want to create an ending that isn’t there, from a tenuous beginning, then write a novel or write a play where you can control the production from start to finish. Otherwise don’t even think of embellishing a story, just because you think the embellished version sounds better.
Let the viewers see the truth, then let them form their own opinion. When writing a true story, the accurate version is always the most interesting. If it isn’t interesting, then you didn’t make it interesting in the way you presented it.
Editor note: me and Steve vs. Steve and I: Your editor will say reverse it. Yet, in this instance, since the entire story was planned and initiated by me, and I was the main actor, I chose to communicate that, by a switch in proper grammar instead of including more descriptive words that could become cumbersome. I went with me and Steve.
This is a true story.
~ Sharon Lee Davies-Tight
WORD WARRIOR DAVIES-TIGHT™ 