When it works, it's like flying

Damned if I can remember who said that. Probably Hemingway. I know it was one of the late-great classic writers, so probably Hemingway.

I never liked Fitzgerald, even for quotes.

I flew this morning. And last night. And it was--exactly like flying. When you're in the zone and writing, and the words are coming, you can see the bigger picture and define the parameters, and each and every one of those picture frame bars are parts of the dream, and you know the dream is the why.

Kind of weird really. It wasn't that I couldn't write, I just couldn't see it anymore. I wasn't down a level. My surroundings stayed my surroundings, I wasn't "in" the dream. I was one step removed.

I tell people all the time. Close your eyes and "see" what's around you. Smell it, and hear it and feel the wind. Lewis Carroll said it best. I give myself very good advice, but I very rarely follow it.

Sometimes, I'm a freaking idiot.

I just needed to close my eyes and start from the bottom up. Move the legs, and feel the carpet. Swing my arms and feel the wind. Smell the jasmine and hear voices (lol...I hear voices).

I think...it was my research video.

I'd always wanted to see Miami Vice (the new one), but y'know, with one thing and the other, I never got around to it, and people told me it was boring. So I shelved it with my (tepid) ambitions to watch Lord of War, another movie people tell me is boring.

Yeah, so it was boring. But the ideas...ohmigod. The ideas flowed like water. The way the people moved and the weapons and the situations. It was real. Probably why it didn't do well. Like when I watched the Professional. Another fine movie.

Sometimes, it's not about enjoyment. It's about ideas. Like Miles says in Borders of Infinity, "Men may move mountains, but ideas move men."

Damn straight.

I have ignition.