Write What You Know

Write What You Know -- the adage all writers are supposed to follow.  It's also the one that stops me in my tracks.  I end up focusing on all the things I don't know.

I don't know how to be a secret agent.
I don't know how to be the Eiffel Tower.
I don't know how to hit a home run in the World Series.

There are way too many things I don't know!  And what I do know sounds rather plebian.

I know how to balance my checkbook to the penny.
I know how to design a really good spreadsheet.
I know how to make a rocky road fudge brownie that my friends have deemed Death by Chocolate.

The funny thing is, when I act, I'm not too affected by what I know or don't know.  If I'm playing a character that's not like me, I simply start looking for moments in the script that I can empathize with.  Once I have those, I can start to discover who this person is.

Writing is an act of empathy, as well.  If I approach writing from that vantage point, it's amazing how much I know.

I know the brittle cold of a 5 a.m. run when training for a marathon.
I know the banter of friends when they start riffing on really bad movies.
I know the hollowness in my gut when I learned my mother had died.
I know the rightness of feeling my soul mate in my arms.

If that's the case, then I'll write what I know.