As it stands now, I am behind in Nano and have not even a topic in mind for the science writing workshop I’m ecstatic to be attending in the spring. So what am I totally into writing about in my write-whatever-i-want-time? Science fiction as a genre. Does this have anything to do with Nano or the science writing workshop? Of course not.

A few years ago I was at a writer’s conference and Brian Selznick, author of Hugo Cabret, spoke about what led to writing that book. That blockbuster, now a movie, book. Selznick was funny and charming. He told us that in between complaining to everyone he knew, he spent time looking into things that interested him. At the end? He wrote and illustrated Hugo Cabret – a Scholastic book of about 500 pages, with illustrations that went across the center fold. Not shabby.

Since hearing Selznick, I’ve wondered if I would have the confidence to do that when I wasn’t quite sure what to write about. I’ve been telling myself that the way to come to a new take on a topic or a new way into a topic of interest, is to spend at least some of my time writing or reading or otherwise exploring the shiny things that dance just out of my reach.

Bottom line? I’m going with the scifi thing in my write-whatever-i-want-time. I’m curious about who influenced whom and how the conventions came to be. I’ll be blogging about this along the way. And of course I’m going to stick with my investigation of dystopian literature. How can I let that go?

My hypothesis is that the things that spark our imagination are vital to our creativity. We’ll see soon enough!