Have you ever watched a movie or read a book where the author tricked you with the pieces of world building? For me, most recently, Inception comes to mind. As you get swept into the movie you can lose sight of what’s real and what’s constructed, regardless of how closely you watch the story unfold.
The dream within a dream is an amazing illusion, a clever device of the elaborate world building applied to that script.
This illusion within the reality came into play in our real lives as my daughter sorts and packs in preparation for college. As a paranormal romance author and a mom, I’ve been trying to move forward with my writing as I help my daughter think through what she’ll need to move forward into college.
All summer my husband has been looking at what appeared to be a giant pile of stuff she intended to take with her. He could only surmise that the van (with all of us in it) had no hope of transferring such a monumental collection of ‘necessities’. He’s been lecturing her all summer about cutting back, packing light, thinking about the limited space, etc.
But the giant pile was an illusion. Of course it wasn’t intentional. She didn’t set out to fool him, or try and practice anything she might use in world building for a novel. It just sort of happened that while she redecorated her room here at home, everything got shoved into that pile as she sorted -and yes- pared down in preparation for college.
The reality is barely half of the now infamous pile will be part of the world building for her dorm room. In reality, her going-to-college pile was on top of a large trunk that is merely part of the normal storage/decor in the guest room. The trunk isn’t going, but it created the illusion of more stuff as she piled what is going on top and around it.
To better prepare, my husband ordered a roof top carrier to cope with all the ‘stuff’. We might use it, but I’m not so sure. As she sorts and stacks, and properly packs her belongings into boxes, I’m more convinced there will be room in the van for all four of us, her mini fridge, and the belongings that are not nearly as cumbersome as he once thought.
I think he’ll be a bit mystified when everything fits with no real trouble, and no need for the roof bag. But he had fun shopping for it and it made him feel more useful during this process of our daughter’s world building for her future.
Live the adventure!
