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I’m with Stupid

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I'm With Stupid

Image by swanksalot via Flickr

Written by Karen D. Swim

I sat staring at my computer screen. There were words there and many of them even made sense but it dawned on me I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. You see, I’m writing a novel. At least I think it’s a novel. Three days into this NaNo thing, and I came face to face with my utter stupidity.  I am clueless. I laughed at my utter lack of knowledge. I had never studied character or plot development, had I? If I ever knew anything before, I sure as heck couldn’t recall it today.

So, I sat and laughed at my arrogance. I was writring a novel without a clue.  It made me wonder how many other things I didn’t know. Turns out I know more than I think and I know less than I think.  I became prettty comfortable with being stupid for the moment. It wasn’t so bad. I remembered the words of my Appraiser professor, “If you don’t know something, fess up and get yourself some learning.”  So, I figured fessing up to stupidity was actually a pretty smart move.

Wiser minds, like Jamie Grove, had warned this would happen. So I learned from his words. Lillie had warmly encouraged us all to give ourselves to write absolute green dreck. So l learned from her words. I had no idea where this story was going so I asked my characters. Turns out they had pretty strong ideas and even introduced me to some new people. So, I forged on typing my sometimes green dreck on the screen.

The experience helped me see some other things in my life from a new perspective.  I grew excited, as I looked at my marketing plan and admitted my stupidity. I went in search of knowledge to learn what I did not know or to relearn what I knew in a new way.  Things I had once ignored suddenly appealed to me. I was stupid and my resistance was gone. I became energized as I sought to fill in those empty spaces.

At the end of the day, a friend came to me and declared she needed my help.  I laughed at the irony and gladly filled in her empty spaces.

Have you ever come face to face with your lack of knowledge? How did it make you feel?

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Comments

  1. “I’m with stupid” is one of the best t-shirts ever made! Always makes me laugh. There was a funny Mad Magazine cover with Bush wearing this shirt… or something like that.

    Yeah… the older I get, the less I know. I think it is all part of that regression back to the womb, the birth/death cycle.

    Hang in there; there are tons of successful rambling novels. Just let it flow. At a library in California, they had a whole Nano display of published books that came out of that. Very cool.

    screenwritingforhollywoods last blog post..Interview with Muzz, Winner of SFH ‘Write a Screenplay in One Month’ Competition

  2. Hey Everyone! Sorry for the late response but I sort of got caught up in the whole excitement of Election Day! You know, I really appreciate each and every one of you and your comments inspire me. What a smart, funny, talented group of people. You all give me such a wonderful gift, taking time to read and chat. Okay, that’s my gushy mush now on to responses! 🙂

    @Jamie, ROFL! It is a funny thing that I understand in a new way. My main character Nikki is sweet but the girl can be so darn opinionated! LOL!

    @Jan, oh my gosh please do!!! *bouncing up and down* we could start a whole new movement! LOL!

    @Lillie, you have birthed a new movement. Long live the dreckers! 🙂

    @Kelly, Mr. Rogers was a wise old dude. What I find energizing is that even things that aren’t new to me become new through another’s eyes. It’s amazing that someone can say something you know but it takes on new meaning in the way they present it. Learning totally rocks! 🙂

    @Alex, LOL! I love the slight confusion! You mean that’s not true of everyone? lol!

    @Ulla, your attitude is so wonderful and inspiring! Learning new things is energizing and they say it keeps us young. Nice bonus! 🙂

  3. Karen,
    “Have you ever come face to face with your lack of knowledge?”
    Daily, I would say. I was doing some photoshop work on Monday, and realized how much I didn’t know. But it is fun, learning, isn’t it? It is not important that we lack knowledge, it is important how we deal with that lack. Are we ashamed of it and give up our aims, or are we going on to learn? I enjoy daily learning.

    Ulla Hennigs last blog post..At the Beach

  5. Karen,

    “Have you ever come face to face with your lack of knowledge?”

    ALL THE TIME.

    What to do about it? Well, heck, I guess it’s never bothered me that I don’t know everything. I find someone who does know what I need, learn from them, or work around my ignorance by reinventing the wheel. I rather like that method. Sometimes it’s very satisfying.

    When in doubt, I remember the sage words of Mister Rogers (no kidding, lots of his words run around in my head—preschool zen): “You learn something old every day.” In other words, it might be new to me, but nothing’s new. No shame in learning a bit more.

    And about your characters: mine did the same thing to me. I thought I knew where the book I wrote was going, end-to-end, but they took over and surprised me plenty of times. Apparently, though this would be insanity in other venues, when writing a novel, this is considered perfectly normal. 🙂

    Regards,

    Kelly

    Kellys last blog post..Doin’ It Better Than Ever in B2B

  9. You really have been in a pickle if *I* end up being a wiser mind. 🙂

    I’m glad you were able to write your way out though. I had a similar experience on day two. I started working on a new chapter and it wasn’t going so well, then Kip (my main character) said, and this is truly cut and paste:

    —
    Well, you get into a place like there where there’s all the meetin’ and hellos and such and it gets real borin’ to read. I read plenty of books now where a fella goes on for pages and pages like that and I wondered how that happened. After all, isn’t there something happening? Why is he writing a story after all?

    Thinking on that, I swore that if I ever wrote a tale I’d skip all that kind of thing and just tell what happened but wouldn’t you know it – I got myself in the same pickle as everyone else.
    —

    I guess pickles abound!

    Jamie Grove – How Not To Writes last blog post..The First Three Million Words: A NaNoWriMo Profile

  10. @Joanna, I thought I’d take advantage of being tired and your month of experimenting to strip off the layers and just put it out there. It’s funny Janice Cartier has been echoing my thoughts on her blog. Writing the things out loud that make us scared, or feel kind of dumb really teaches us they’re not so bad after all! I’m so glad you’re here for the journey! 🙂

    @Rebecca, humbled but then empowered. Yes! Sometimes I wish we could skip the humbled part but you are so right on. 🙂

    @Jan, yes the parenthetical notes count! LOL! *bouncing up and down* Yes, mugs and t-shirts! I mean holy canoli let the literati and best sellers have their accolades, it takes special people to be proud of sucky green dreck! 🙂

    Karen Swims last blog post..I’m with Stupid

  12. Oh Karen,
    This is priceless! Where you looking over my shoulder!? And do the words in parenthesis ( notes to self) that I have been writing in MY arrogant attempt at a first draft count in the word count?
    And can we have signs or mugs that say” typing green dreck and proud of it?

  13. Have you ever come face to face with your lack of knowledge?
    All the time!

    How did it make you feel?
    Humbled at first, but empowered once I set out to “fill in the empty spaces.” I love learning new things, so I welcome coming face-to-face with my lack of knowledge!

    Rebecca Smiths last blog post..The ellipsis is cool, but …