Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Mint Flavored

I hate buying toothpaste. I get to the store and forget what brand and flavor I use. Should I get the daily fluoride, anti-cavity, whitening, ultra-fresh toothpaste? Or the tartar control, peroxide, plaque-fighting, dental baking soda toothpaste? Wait…there's a gel too?

Here's the floss. Do I need dental floss? I mean- I haven’t flossed in a while, but the dentist appointment is coming up so I should probably do it a couple times. Cinnamon floss? Wouldn't that burn my gums? And it’ll probably clash with the Paradise Fresh toothpaste.

See what I mean? I avoid buying toothpaste for as long as possible. I squeeze every last sticky drop out of the tube until my husband takes pity on me and buys it for me.

I hope to write the way I use my toothpaste- squeezing all I can out of it before moving on to the next. That includes setting a scene that evokes emotion, designing dialogue that brings characters to life, creating conflict that dares the reader to turn the page. Each phrase should be another step towards my goal. Pain, anger, love, humor… all of the drops help drive home what I want the reader to feel.

Now, where’s my toothbrush?

3 comments:

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Awesome analogy! Glad you didn't use toilet paper for that...

And flossing is really important. You should floss every day. It directly affects your health, I promise. Flossing just before you go to the dentist won't make much of a difference. It's the long-term affects that matter. (I had a dental hygienist for a roommate, can you tell?)

Sarah Jensen said...

That's an awesome post. And darn, I guess we need to floss. I hate that.

And yep, squeeze it for all it's worth. :)
We already know you can evoke great emotion in your writing. ;)

Samantha Elliott said...

I'm glad you take toothpaste so seriously. I recently made a grievous error in toothpaste choice, and now I get a little more annoyed with my toothpaste every time I brush my teeth. I've thought about just throwing it out and buying a new tube, a better tube, but it's a perfectly good tube of toothpaste — it's just not for me.

Oh man, did I just become an agent?