Unpacking the Metaphor

Sometimes I say, "hey self, how about you get real good at writing?" Occasionally, I will give it a go. I'll spend a few minutes on one of my novels or type a quick story to add to my site. The problem is, I am a lazy writer. I will come up with something that, to me, is profound and amazing, but when I put it in letters it becomes trite and obvious. Writing is hard. I know this, but I give up. Hell, sometimes I will just make a list. I don't know who I am trying to kid. Lists are for groceries and errands... what's more boring than that?

My last post was a photo of my lunch. I thought eating cold chili directly out of a can with a used plastic spoon alone in my office while washing it down with a $4.23 8 pump 140 degree decaf mocha was some sort of symbol for my day (or life, really.) I thought it was interesting the label said both "chili" and "chilli" But, I let the photo sit there on its own. I didn't take the time to unpack the metaphor. Maybe I am afraid of admitting what it means, but more likely I'm just lazy. At some level I know this because I deleted the caption - "explanation left as an exercise for the reader" - just before I hit publish.

Last night someone said, "oh, wow, a picture of your lunch. How profound."

That's when it hit me. I'm wasting my reader's time by asking them to do my job for me. I got into the habit of scribbling down thoughts with words i do not care about. If I don't care about my words, how can I ask you to?

Will I change? I'll try.

Lunch