In Which I Think About One Of The Most Important Things In My Life In A Completely Different Way

Here we have a lovely yellow bowl with orange Jello in it. I have also made a bowl of yellow Jello. I wonder why Donovan did not use those two words together in his classic song, "Mellow Yellow."
Wasted opportunity if you ask me. 

So I made the Jello because I want my supplies ready for tomorrow. So yeah. Two bowls of Jello are my supplies. Also some Better Than Bouillon (and by the way, it is better than bouillon) and I suppose that's what I'll be "eating."
I've continued to make the mistake of googling the proper way to prepare for a colonoscopy as applies to just exactly how long you have to fast before your procedure. I mean, mine is scheduled for 3:30 on Monday afternoon and it would seem to me that if I ate a light breakfast tomorrow and then fasted and did the prep, all would be well. Hell, the directions on the prep solutions say you can have breakfast on the day before. 
So who knows? 

I had an epiphany a few days ago. And no, this has nothing to do with any of the things I just discussed above. This has to do with the job of a fiction writer and perhaps it's obvious to everyone on earth but I have just come to the realization that a good writer of fiction has more in common with playwrights, screen-writers, directors, stage builders, prop managers, costume directors, lighting directors, and actors than I'd ever imagined. I was listening to an audio book and the character who was center stage at that moment, so to speak, was doing some sort of "business." In acting, "business" is what an actor does that may not relate to the dialogue or plot and is not spoken, but acted out in the physical realm. This may or may not have been written into the script. Often not. But it's the little things an actor can do to make their character more realistic, more understandable. For example- I was in a play once where I had at least five different roles. I can't remember exactly how many but a lot and each role had a different costume and different mannerisms and different accents or voices. In one of my roles in that play, I let my character do some weird sort of standing yoga poses as she was speaking because I wanted her to appear to be all new-agey and so forth. Those yoga poses were a bit of business and the audience got it. 
So back to a book. The author gives their characters business too. A character may take off her glasses and wipe them clean or chop some onions or bend down to take a child's hand or look off to the distance while telling a story or- you get the picture. 
And of course the author has written the story, created the plot, taken the characters through it with an Act I and a last act, too. And she has also directed the story, blocked the action on the stage with what happens when and where. She describes what the character may be wearing which can tell you a lot about a person. She gives information on how the character moves and speaks. She sets the stage by describing rooms and the weather and the landscape. She introduces props. Perhaps a knife, a gun, a bottle of poison. Or, alternately, a diamond ring, a vase of roses, a feather bed, a pot of stew. 

Yes. This is so obvious. But for some damn reason, when all of this came together in my head, listening to that book (The Searcher by Tana French), the reality of what makes a good author who writes a good story is a miraculous sort of confluence of details and actions and personalities and plot and often surprises. A good author, one who keeps us interested and reading, is a magician who has created an entire world that we can not only imagine but can almost...actually...see. 

For me, this is one of the most amazing miracles of human achievement, right up there with those who write and make the music which is another thing created out of thin air and which can affect us so very deeply, as Keith Richards said. There are no materials to work with like paints or fibers or clay or marble. There is just whatever it is floating about the ether that a very few can capture and turn into art. 

Oh, there is so much more I could say about this and why we each have our favorite authors, our favorite genres, our go-to books that we can depend on to soothe or further enlighten us or just always make us happy. The books we can reread over and over and get something new from with each reading. 

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And now, to bring us back to earth:

I bet I'm going to be a Bitchy Bitch McBitch tomorrow when I write my post, having gone a full day with nothing to eat but Jello and broth. Please remind me that at least I will not have to floss my teeth. 

Off I go to make some macaroni and cheese. 

Love...Ms. Moon