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i usually come up with my next story about the same time of day, when i’m out walking and things are quiet in my head. so, i was thinking of a could be worse story and all of a sudden i realized that the character and situation i was making up were WAY WAY WAY less badly off than my actual life. and i started thinking about how my life is, objectively speaking, “worse” than the lives of almost everyone i know. feeling sorry for myself, in other words.

so then i was, for a second, stumped for how i was ever going to come up with a “could be worse” story, until the thought came into my head “hey, things could be worse if my hair was on fire!” and the thought just made me smile. because, of course i was being silly- my life isn’t great but things could always be a lot worse. and second, the idea of my hair being on fire making me feel better about things was just plain ridiculous.

so i immediately knew i had to do a story that featured someone whose hair caught fire. but i wanted it to be funny, not horrible, because to me the thought was silly and made me smile. so i set out to make a character reprehensible enough so that by the end of the story no one would mind that her hair caught fire, and i came up with this evil self absorbed diva-type woman with big blond texas hair.

in my imagination what happens next is that the little “mousy” woman she was talking to finds a bucket of cold water somewhere and throws it on her head to put her hair out, and of course she is unharmed.

Hello Mrs. B : ) I really don’t see you as Mother Hubbard!!!!!