Day 21, 44,885 words.
I had fun with my writing again today. I realized that I was bored with the pace of my novel, and it was way too much of Si/Seth closeted together having conversations. So I made sure to have lots of things happen today, all in the space of a few hours.
Jackie made a point in a comment that I haven't said much about Hagrid lately - that's because Seth had a fight with him a while ago, and they haven't spoken. But then they saw each other again finally in today's excerpt. But that's not what I'm going to excerpt for you.
First a bit of eye candy: this is Seth's outfit for going to the wrap party for Just the T(wo) of Us (source: http://karenhor.tumblr.com/post/28737099968/esther-quek-womanmade).
Today I wrote about the wrap party, and Seth met Simon's best friend Bobby Frowney Sr. Here's a picture of Si and Bobby together.
Then, Seth saw Hagrid again for the first time since their sort-of fight and they (again, sort-of) fixed things. And then, Seth had an epiphany, which I will explain in this excerpt. I don't want to give away too much at this stage, but I could really use some help. So...
Finding a quiet corner in the Boo!-bie Mansion is like finding sharks that have gone mysteriously missing from an aquarium. Which is to say, nearly impossible, but it can be done with the right combination of perseverance, pluck, and titian or strawberry blonde hair.
The vision I had seen coming over the horizon was Emilio. And not just one Emilio. No, my mind’s eye was filled with an image of all the Emilios throughout history, walking arm in arm and singing together. I couldn’t make out the words to the song, but I believed it was probably Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing, by Aerosmith. Just a hunch.
These Emilios had a lot to tell me.
“I am you,” they wanted to say.
I had spent days studying Emilio’s oeuvre, wondering if I were Bill Reimers, Bill Robinson, Kirby Keger, John Wisdom, Billy the Kid, Andrew Clark, Otto, or any of the others. I had tried on one Emilio after another, finding them all wanting. What was becoming suddenly clear to me was that none of the Emilios were adequate, and yet they were all perfect. I had been searching for one future, one job, one life partner, one personality, to be, to have, to keep, to stay, forever. And that just wasn’t me. No one job or person or life was going to be enough for me.
“I am all the Emilios,” I whispered to myself. It sounded and felt right. I tried it a little bit louder. “I am all the Emilios.” I couldn’t actually hear myself over the insistent techno beat of the David Guetta remix of Monster Mash, so I yelled, “I AM ALL THE EMILIOS!”
“Is this a bad time?” Si asked from behind me.
So, Seth's soul searching is over. She is all the Emilios, not just one of them. My question... what does this mean for her as she moves into the next stage of her life? I have no idea. She used to be a social worker who worked with LGBTQ youth who were homeless and in foster care. What could she do as a 'new direction' that fully takes into account that she is all the Emilios?
Jackie made a point in a comment that I haven't said much about Hagrid lately - that's because Seth had a fight with him a while ago, and they haven't spoken. But then they saw each other again finally in today's excerpt. But that's not what I'm going to excerpt for you.
First a bit of eye candy: this is Seth's outfit for going to the wrap party for Just the T(wo) of Us (source: http://karenhor.tumblr.com/post/28737099968/esther-quek-womanmade).
Today I wrote about the wrap party, and Seth met Simon's best friend Bobby Frowney Sr. Here's a picture of Si and Bobby together.
Then, Seth saw Hagrid again for the first time since their sort-of fight and they (again, sort-of) fixed things. And then, Seth had an epiphany, which I will explain in this excerpt. I don't want to give away too much at this stage, but I could really use some help. So...
Finding a quiet corner in the Boo!-bie Mansion is like finding sharks that have gone mysteriously missing from an aquarium. Which is to say, nearly impossible, but it can be done with the right combination of perseverance, pluck, and titian or strawberry blonde hair.
The vision I had seen coming over the horizon was Emilio. And not just one Emilio. No, my mind’s eye was filled with an image of all the Emilios throughout history, walking arm in arm and singing together. I couldn’t make out the words to the song, but I believed it was probably Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing, by Aerosmith. Just a hunch.
These Emilios had a lot to tell me.
“I am you,” they wanted to say.
I had spent days studying Emilio’s oeuvre, wondering if I were Bill Reimers, Bill Robinson, Kirby Keger, John Wisdom, Billy the Kid, Andrew Clark, Otto, or any of the others. I had tried on one Emilio after another, finding them all wanting. What was becoming suddenly clear to me was that none of the Emilios were adequate, and yet they were all perfect. I had been searching for one future, one job, one life partner, one personality, to be, to have, to keep, to stay, forever. And that just wasn’t me. No one job or person or life was going to be enough for me.
“I am all the Emilios,” I whispered to myself. It sounded and felt right. I tried it a little bit louder. “I am all the Emilios.” I couldn’t actually hear myself over the insistent techno beat of the David Guetta remix of Monster Mash, so I yelled, “I AM ALL THE EMILIOS!”
“Is this a bad time?” Si asked from behind me.
So, Seth's soul searching is over. She is all the Emilios, not just one of them. My question... what does this mean for her as she moves into the next stage of her life? I have no idea. She used to be a social worker who worked with LGBTQ youth who were homeless and in foster care. What could she do as a 'new direction' that fully takes into account that she is all the Emilios?
You definitely get the prize for the most brilliant use of the estvez oeuvre as a plot device. And just why did I tear up at the phrase "I am all the Emilios"?
ReplyDeleteI hope this means Seth doesn't have to choose between Si and Hagrid. She can love both of them and whomever else compliments all the Emilios that make one great Seth! Postmodern social work can chalk up another victory!
Could she expand her social work to take on more tasks like coaching a hockey team for foster kids, supervise a weekend detention center, have a series of small uncredited roles in movie?
ReplyDeleteI loved this realization. I hope that one day we can all realize what combination of Emilios we are. I'm so excited to read your whole book and see how things work out for Seth.
I am all the Emilios is truly an inspirational line, and one that has or could have many implications. I would tend to agree with both Jackie and Heather. The nature of the triangle love story plot is that a choice has to be made... one or the other, or neither. The same is true of career choices. One must choose one path, leaving all other possibilities behind, like shadows of the Emilios that could have been but weren't.
ReplyDeleteI think Seth is about to buck against this, and begin making choices based on what makes sense to her, and will make her happy. What that means only you can say.
That was.... bloody brilliant, as Hagrid might have said. I am going to write "I am all the Emilios" on my bathroom mirror so that I look at it every day to feel just as inspired as I do now.
ReplyDelete