Making things up...

I gave in.  I bought two Neil Gaiman short story collections: Fragile Things, and Smoke and Mirrors.  The only reason I haven't owned his short fiction before is that I didn't want to be influenced by his writing. Until I was ready.

I'm ready now.  I have enough of my own writing piled up to know who I am and who I want to continue to be.  I am a Gaiman fan in that I sit back and watch from the sidelines, watch the off-stage gestures.  I ask, "Is this a life I want?" and wonder if the answer will ever be yes, or no.  I've kept away from his short fiction because he draws from a place that attracts me as well.  And, I have a middling capacity for accents.  I'm not a perfect mimic, but sometimes, when it's close enough to how I write naturally, someone else's voice slips out.

Oh well.  Better here than on the page.
m