It is fiction because no one believes it.

"It is fiction because no one believes it."

This morning, I was sorting my socks drawer, with the windows open, listening to the birds outside, when the phrase came to me as I was thinking about an opening phrase for a book that I've wanted to write for a long time. The socks are an integral part of the opening theme. I thought that if a movie was made of the opening scene, it would be in a quiet bedroom in the morning, with a person sorting/folding socks and neatly arranging them in a socks drawer. There would be a voiceover that talked about sorting/folding socks. Before this scene, when the screen is still black, the words would appear:

It is fiction because no one believes it.

My writing professor told my class, "Write about something you know." Many of Raymond Carver's stories, as well as Bukowski's prose poetry, are straight from their own lives. But at a bookstore, you'll find them in the fiction area. If I wrote a book that is exactly about my life, my ideas, and my beliefs, but the protagonist isn't me but a made-up name, all of a sudden the book is fiction. I have a feeling that if all of us told our own stories, no one would believe that 100% of it ever happened.

It is fiction because no one believes it.

Methodology

Just some guidelines that have been working for me lately:

I decide what is healthy and unhealthy for me based on my spiritual, psychological and intellectual goals, and what I have observed that works and does not work with other people.

Whenever I come across a moment of gray decision, I evaluate it using guidelines for what is healthy and unhealthy for me.

If any of my actions are not consistent with what is healthy for me, I call attention to it, accept it as my own responsibility, and seek to remedy it with further knowledge.

If I get angry or perturbed, I halt all decisions and judgments until my mind and/or body has had enough time to rest. If rest does not work, I eat a meal. Without rest and nourishment, my judgments are impaired.

I allow myself moments of confusion, ignorance and curiosity without judging myself to be less than anyone else. I follow this with learning.

I buy material goods based on my original guidelines of what is healthy for me. If I cannot determine whether something is healthy for me, I do not buy it.

If I cannot determine whether a situation is healthy for me, I do not participate in it.

If I cannot determine whether an action is healthy for me, I refrain from doing it.