Underneath it all

Theme is something I've been thinking about for years, because it's one of those writing things that I can't seem to ever quite grasp when it comes to my own writing process. Thanks to my excellent high school English teachers, I can pick out and analyze themes in other people's stuff, but I never quite get it for my own.

Judging from some of the discussions I've had on this topic, lots of other people are confused abut theme, too. So I thought I'd ponder that for a little today.

Theme is...