What does this story say about me?

[Droopy]

Anything bad? I was talking to a woman on a dating site and she wanted to know what my stories were about because I told her that I write as as a hobby. We had sent a couple of messages back and forth and I was thinking about asking her for her phone number. She did not get back to me after I sent her this story though, unless she is just being really slow, but I don't think that's it. It's been 4 days and if you are really digging someone you don't put them off like that. Here the story:

Hard times are upon us, friends. A lot of people are out of work and it's looking like there could be a lot more before it's all over. That reminded me of a hitch-hiker I picked up a few years ago. I'll call him Joe.

I used to have a dedicated route driving up to Cleveland, Ohio from Dayton, Ohio and back. I usually stopped at this little mom and pop's truck stop about 40 miles north of Columbus on I-71. I think it's called the Duke Travel Plaza, but I'm not quite sure. Anyway, I stopped in there one day like usual and there's this guy standing by the entrance to the truck stop. He was skinny and dirty and all he had was a jeans jacket for a coat out there in the Ohio winter. He also had a small, duffel bag that had a makeshift strap on it made of twine because the original strap had broken off.

I knew the guy was a hitch-hiker and probably homeless just by looking at him. It was also cold that day and that jeans jacket he had on probably wasn't insulating him too well. As I got closer to the door he looked at me and asked in a thick southern accent which direction I was going. I told him north and he asked for a ride. He said he needed to get to Cleveland. I told him to hop in the truck.

I don't usually pick up hitch-hikers, but I just had a sense about that guy that told me it was going to be alright. I guess that's intuition. My mom would kick my ass if she found out that I had picked up hitch-hikers so I'd appreciate it if you don't tell her.

So, I walked into the truck stop and grabbed 3 one liters of Diet Coke and big, ol' bag of popcorn. Then I returned to the truck and we headed toward Cleveland. I offered one of the sodas to Joe and he took it and drank half of it in one pull. I wondered how long it had been since he'd had a decent meal.

As we rolled up the highway Joe told me why he was out on the road. He was from some little town in the panhandle of Florida. For some reason he had lost his job and was unable to find another one. When the cars started to get repossessed and the house foreclosed on, his wife left him. Joe figured he had nothing to lose so he hit the road. He had heard that Ohio was a good place to find work. A lot of people from the south have migrated to Ohio in search of a good factory job. Despite his predicament, Joe sounded positive. He was sure he'd be able to start a new life for himself in Cleveland.

It had gotten dark before we hit the I-480 bypass and we could see the Cleveland skyline all lit up. My stop was just off the highway there and I told Joe that was as far as I could take him. I pulled into a vacant parking lot to let Joe off. I still had the popcorn and another full bottle of Diet Coke and I gave both of them to Joe. I pulled out my wallet and I had $24 in there- 4 ones and a twenty. I gave the $4 to Joe. He smiled at me and shook my hand then hopped out of the truck. It was very cold out and I wondered where Joe was going to go. He said all he had to do was find a cop and he/she would tell him where he could go to stay warm. I'm not so sure about that, though.

Times are probably going to be tough here in the near future. We need to pull together and help each other out.

I wish I would have given Joe that twenty now.

[KitchenWitch]

1. The story tells me you have compassion for another human being.

:hug:

Not sure what the woman you are interested in reads into it.

[Droopy]

2. Thanks.

I don't see anything bad about it, either. I guess maybe someone more appealing to her could have jumped in front of me at about the same time I sent her that. That's the only explanation I can think of.

[enigmatic]

3. I agree

You need a blog to put these stories into, bro. I'm serious. They need to be read by as many people as possible :hug:

[Droopy]

4. Thanks, man

I've been thinking about doing something like that. The goal is to have enough of them together to make a book out of them. I've talked to the admin about DU and copyright. They say that the stories are 100% mine. The thing I've been afraid of with the blog is that I'll run out of material and not be able to come up with the stories fast enough to hold interest. I wrote 5 of these in a week last month, but have only written 1 since then. I think I could have fresh material for about a year, 36 weeks guaranteed if I post one a week. That's how many I have together now.

[enigmatic]

5. That's all you'll need to start out

Once you get going I think you'll see the creative juices flowing; the words will tumble out.

[KitchenWitch]

7. Droopy, I have a blog

Sometimes I am really rather prolific and on fire with writing in it, and sometimes there is a lot of time between posts. Right now I am kind of in one of those "long time between posts" phase.

I really enjoy writing. But sometimes the words just are not there for awhile. Which is what makes blogging kind of cool for me. When I want to write, it is there. And if I do not post in it for awhile, nobody knows the difference. I have only made 5 posts since January 1. Not because I have not wanted to, more because the words just are not there for me right now.

Sorry for being so rambly. Just wanted to support you in starting a blog.

[Droopy]

9. Thanks, KitchenWitch

Is there a way to tell how many people view your blog? Do you know if you have any regular readers? Do people write to you during your slow times? Be as rambly as you want. That's allowed in Droopy threads. :)

[KitchenWitch]

10. I think people put counters on their blogs

I don't have a counter, but I do know that I have several people who do stop in and read it because I do get occasional comments. (Most of my readers are from here on DU). I also post links to my blog posts to my Facebook page. So my friends who do not happen to be on DU (my blog is linked in my sigline), can check it out if they want to.

Most of my blog is pretty mundane (my life is pretty mundane, after all - except for what goes on in my brain). I pretty much constantly blogged the Santiago Canyon Fire (which came within 3/4 mile of my house in October 2007). I was pretty terrified, and the act of blogging helped to keep me grounded.

A lot of what I blog about is my midwestern sensibilties juxtaposed against the often plastic and vain environment of southern California. My head really still does explode at least once a week around here. I happen to live in a community that has pretty much made old world charm illegal. Which kind of feeds my angst about living here. But we are here, and I have varying levels of acceptance around it.

Sometimes the long periods between posts is because I have too much noise in my head. I have ADD, and find it difficult to find a calm, quiet, and focused place. And if I try to write when my brain is noisy, it ends up not making a whole lot of sense. And is really really bouncy. At times, a gnat has more of an attention span than I do. I used to journal a lot, using pen and paper, and I can tell when my focus just was not there while I was writing. The writing is disjointed and full of gaps. So I try to blog when my mind is quieter.

I really hope you do start a blog. I do like to read your stories. The realism does come through, as does your spirit.


Edited to change the date - it was October 2007, not 2006.

[Droopy]

12. Thanks for the info and the compliment

Someone on here implied one time that one of my stories was a work of fiction. I wish some of them were! :D But I'm not talented enough to make that stuff up. I'll check out your blog.

I've been out to Orange and L.A. counties and San Diego many times for over-the-road gigs. About the only thing I like about it is that it's 70 degrees in January. It's not a trucker-friendly environment. A lot of big cities are like that, though, not just in California. I like the smaller towns in California- up I-5 and Califoria 99 in the San Joaquin Valley. And, of course, there is the beauty of northern California up north of Sacramento and San Francisco. But then I'm from a small town and I've got some country boy in me. I guess people who grew up in the big cities might think of my preferred environment as a hell hole. :)

[KitchenWitch]

17. I love San Diego

Granted I have not done a whole lot of exploring San Diego, but I think overall, San Diego county is prettier than Orange County. Although, along the coastline, it seems like it is just one big sprawl from about 40 miles north of Los Angeles, all the way down to San Diego. With the exception of Camp Pendleton, which is large, hilly and mostly wide open space.

I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis and probably could not live in a place more than 60 miles outside a large metro area. It is what I am accustomed to.

I have visited northern California, and I find it far more compelling than southern California. But nothing tops the beauty of Minnesota and Wisconsin, where a 2-3 hour drive actually covers some country, versus here, where you may not even get more than 50-60 miles in 3 hours if traffic is bad.

[Chan790]

19. Some thoughts from a fellow writer who also works with aspiring writers...

1.) Yes, you own your work free-and-clear after posting on DU, however a publisher may still give you a hard-time over printing large quantities of work that you've "given-away" by posting to the internet where it can be read for free. At the same time, it's vital to build a following. Two things towards that end you can do to balance those competing interests: Develop 3 to 5 pieces that you like and think are representative of your work and use those as your showpieces. Those are the ones you give away, send to publishers and magazines as work samples, post to the web, etc. The second thing is write the blog of the background, the deeper content that isn't the stories. Summarize, rather than retell, the story of Joe quickly and then talk about how you feel about it and what you've taken from it...that's more typical blog content for someone writing a book and it's something you can point to for publishers as having gained you a following and which can be linked to, enhancing the content of your stories in the book (which makes them money by selling more books. Publishers are like film producers...they care about the money a lot more than the creators care about the money because they're bank-rolling the project).

2.) You seem to have hit the writer's block wall. It's common. Might I suggest a short book? I've been nudging my tutoring students who have the same problem to The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. It's not a book about writing. It's a book about confronting the resistance, becoming professional in one's focus on being a person who creates content {art, music, writing, fundraising, grantwriting, film producing, acting, starting an NPO, etc.} in a self-employment field and putting the distractions of daily life out of mind so that one can self-motivate and find the time, space and energy to work. I'd try the library first as it is a very short book, 168 pages with a lot of white-space. If it helps you and you want a copy on-hand or if you can't find it in the library, then you should buy it. It's helped me enough that my dog-eared copy was well worth the $13.

[Droopy]

21. I appreciate your thoughts, Chan

It's always good to hear from people who write, either professionally or for a hobby. I also appreciate the advice on posting stories. I will check out the book you recommended. A lot of the problem with writing for me is that I spend 11 hours a day at work including the commute. I have to be really motivated to get anything down on paper through the week. On the weekend I can usually write at least one story. I draw on my experience as a trucker and sometimes it seems like the well is dry.

[alphafemale]

6. If that story "scared" her off consider yourself lucky.

Some people are "put off" by compassion toward fellow human beings. We call them Republicans. :hug:

[Droopy]

8. Hahaha

I guess maybe I am better off. I could have dodged a bullet. :D

[quakerboy]

11. I like your story

I have felt that selfsame way all too often.

Don't read too much into things though. My wife, long before she was my wife, would freak the daylights out of me by vanishing off the radar screen for days at a time, in our early communications, before we had met in person.

[Droopy]

13. Thanks, quakerboy

I guess she might be back. We'll see.

[quakerboy]

15. Its the nature of the internet.

Some come back, some do not. Some hang on every message, some only turn the computer on every other Tuesday. Some have a wife, a husband, and 15 kids, and others are stalkers who are just waiting for you to drop enough info to find you IRL. Then theres that one chick you finally meet up with at the Starbucks in front of Walmart, where ironically enough neither of you would ever go, who turns out to be an awesome match for you, and good in the sack to boot.

[CJCRANE]

14. You could

ask her "did you like my story?"

Just a short note to bring it back down to an everyday level and make it easy for her to reply in a few words.

(For instance I have a friend who writes very creative and detailed emails to me but I put off replying because I can't match the amount and skill of his writing).

[Droopy]

16. I guess I could try that

I'm pretty sure she's seen my last e-mail. On the dating site it shows the last time someone has logged on. I don't think my writing would intimidate her, she's got two master's degrees. But I guess it's worth a follow up.

[trof]

18. I like the story, but I'm not ready to date you yet.

;-)

[Droopy]

22. Thanks trof and I understand that I'm not everybody's type

:D

[fizzgig]

20. it means you are a kind soul

wonderful story, as always :)

[Droopy]

23. Thank you x 2

:)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

24. I remember this story, Droopy...

And if she didn't like it, then there's something wrong with her, IMHO anyway...

It's a beautiful story, full of your compassion for a fellow sufferer...

:hug:

[Droopy]

25. Thanks Peggy

Yeah, I sent it to her thinking it was one of my better stories and showed me in a positive light. Maybe it wasn't the story that she didn't like and I just sent it at the wrong time. The timing is just bad and it sucks to put that one out there and seem to drive someone off. It's like someone stopping contacting you after they've seen your picture. It hurts your feelings.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

26. I would think this would hurt your feelings...

I remember once, a long time ago, I was interested in a guy, but his kind of music didn't do much for me...

But I didn't let it drive me away. He was a lot more important than the music he liked.

And it was early in our relationship that I discovered this...

We had other things in common.

Your story is a very good one, and it does show you in a positive light.

I'm sorry...

:hug: