No, Seriously. Just Try It.

In which I tell a story, eventually relate it to writing, challenge you, and introduce a new Monday feature here in Jacqui's Room.*

1. The story
I took Captain Destructo to the grocery store the other day. I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but in addition to being, um, active, Destructo is, at 22 months, the size of the average three-and-a-half year old. I am not joking. So he can reach everything, including everything in the cart. His favorite thing to do is reach back, grab something (like say a loaf of bread or a package of raw hot dogs or a baby wipes), and to eat it straight through the packaging. Shopping with Destructo is like shopping with an over-caffeinated goat.

So I'm standing at the check out counter, tossing half-chewed items onto the conveyor belt, taking them away from Destructo and putting them back on the conveyor belt, promising him stickers if he'll just not. be. a toddler. FOR. FIVE. MINUTES, trying to hold my wallet under my chin, dropping my wallet, wondering how the heck a giant jar of mango and chipotle chutney got into the cart... The usual. And I hear a snicker.

I look up. There's a young woman standing there rubbing her little bump of a pregnant belly. And staring at me. Absofreakinglutely smug smug smug. You could practically see her brain saying, "MY baby is NEVER going to..." and "I am NEVER going to be one of THOSE moms!"

So I shouted, "Think fast!" and threw the hot dogs at her. No, I didn't. But I thought to myself, "Honey, NONE of us was ever going to be one of those moms. Look forward to seeing you here in about a year."

2. I promise we are getting to the part that's about writing soon.
So then I got to thinking: this is how life goes. One of the things that makes getting older bearable interesting is the way we tell ourselves, "I'll NEVER" and then we do, and there's a story that gets us there.

I swore I would never in a million billion years...what? What have you sworn you'd never do that now you do all the time? And how did you get there?

3. I challenge you to just try this:
In my wanderings through the world on online card craft blogs, I noticed they challenge each other a lot more than we book bloggers do. And they DO the challenges.** So, I am stealing the idea. I challenge you this:

Look at your work in progress or something you're revising or anything. What would your main character never, ever do, not in a million billion years or for a thousand dollars?

Now, make her do it. Make her do the one thing she would have sworn would never happen. And make sure to show (not tell) us how she got there. Tada! You've made your character more complex and your story more full of tension.

4. No, seriously.
Really, go write it. Oh, come on, just try it.
Which brings us to our new Monday feature: No, Seriously. Just Try It.
This idea grew out of three things I've been pondering while revising my novel.
1. My best writing comes when it's pressure free and I am thinking "just try it" and having fun.
2. One of the hardest things for me about revising is thinking outside the box; it's hard, when you're so wrapped up in something, to envision how it could be different and better in big ways.
3. I should blog more about writing.

So every Monday for the next six weeks, I'll have a No, Seriously. Just Try It (hereafter abbreviated N,S.JTI.) idea for you. But you have to promise me you'll try some of them, okay? And you have to tell us how it went in the comments. And I still want to know what's been crossed off your "I'd never" list.

Who's in?


* See what happens when I drink a triple latte?
** They also give each other a lot more presents, which they call Blog Candy. I'm working on that part.