“You need a bridge,” he said. “To get you from one place to another.”

My husband says he’s only here on earth to think up ideas for other people to use, since he claims his own ideas never go anywhere. That was all he said, pretty much, “You need a bridge.” And that bridges are useful. Musicians use them. Builders use them. I used one, symbolically, I suppose. And it worked.

It was just the word, “bridge,” that triggered the memory of this bridge we used to play on when we were little. It was a covered bridge over a creek, and we used to climb up onto the side of it, play small pranks on the cars passing by, like wouldn’t it be so funny if you hung over the side with your butt up in the air?

We were ten

But what bridged me from chapter one to chapter two, where I was hopelessly stuck in the fog, was not the bridge at all, but the childhood memory that was sparked from the word “bridge.” A childhood memory, and the scene I ended up writing had absolutely nothing to do with a bridge of the literal or figurative variety. But just the word got me from one place to another.

I wonder what other words might be useful sparks to use when we’re stuck in the fog? It would be nice to build up an arsenal of these useful triggers. Bridges, to get us from one place to another.

Thanks, hubby! Brilliant!

not a reader:

These links aren’t exactly new or anything. I think I’ve had this post in my drafts for two weeks.

A good story, in The New Yorker – not a new story, I clicked through to read one by Lorrie Moore, but ended up reading this older one instead: “Brother on Sunday,” by A.M. Homes. Love her! Just revel in this line for a moment. Has anyone ever written a better line than this?

“My brother is coming, after all,” he says. His brother, Roger, visits the beach once a year, like a tropical storm that changes everything.

Have to buy this issue of Tin House! (Issue #40) Charles Baxter! Amy Hempel! Joshua Ferris! Stuart Dybek! And poetry by Stephen King? OMG, get me one of these right now!!! Seriously, I might even brave taking Dylan to a bookstore to get one of these! (Dylan gets traumatic in bookstores for some reason – toy stores, fine; bookstores, meltdown!)

not a writer:

My novel isn’t dead, but in hibernation, still. It is not technically dead, no one checked their watch and said, “Time of death, 10:53 a.m.” Is it on life support, maybe? Or in cryogenics, to be revived at a later date, when its medical condition might be helped by future breakthroughs we have not discovered yet?

I started working on new a short story, actually. I never thought I would write one again, but I suppose “never again” is a pretty big statement to stand by. The penultimate short story I wrote was one that turned into the first version of my attempted novel. Then my last short story was the one that turned into my current version of my novel, which isn’t technically dead, yet. I totally need to stop doing that! This short story, I’m pretty sure, has no chance of turning into a novel. I could be wrong. I’ve been wrong before.

But I started that story last week, and have not actually written anything “valid” this week. No, not a word. Did you ever have those kind of weeks where it ends up being Friday, and you’re like, wasn’t it just Monday a minute ago, and what have I actually done with these last five days of my existence? I’ve been writing the usual things, as well as some rants, some snark, some comments on facebook.

But “valid” fiction (”valid” = stories that might be sold and/or published to further my professional writing career), no, not really. Not this week. Maybe next.

My dudes, waiting for the fireworks to start.

A few minutes of the DC fireworks, as seen from across the river in Arlington, Va. With commentary from Dylan. Note: the butterfly ones!

We took a nice quiet stroll through DC after the fireworks, waiting for the trains to clear up – that didn’t happen, by the way. We walked for an hour after the fireworks and still waited for half an hour to get on a train back home. Everyone said it would be unbelievably, insanely busy. I guess it’s a learn from experience kind of thing – so hey, folks, guess what? The DC fireworks are insanely, unbelievably busy!

This is the Korean War Veterans Memorial when you do it wrong. But let me tell you, what it’s supposed to look like at night is just as spooky.

Hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July