Shades of Green

Anyone who knows me will know about my weakness for Robert Pattinson (for those people with a life and no inclination to delve into the celeb scene, RobPat played the vampire in Twilight). This whole drama with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart (http://www.channel24.co.za/Gossip/News/Kristen-Stewart-cheated-on-Robert-20120725) has got me thinking: Will we ever be satisfied with what we have? How can you have a guy at home that makes other girls wither on their feet and still look at someone else without your eyeballs cringing?

Is the neighbour’s chandelier really that much more ‘bling’ than mine? A year ago, I would have slapped anyone that dared tell me that I’d someday be in the national newspaper. Two weeks ago, I was (full-page article, by the way…just saying)! After the gushing euphoria slowed to a trickle, I started thinking of other KA-BLAMM, POW, ZAP ways to make The Scarlet Omen more visible. Is this normal? Do we as humans constantly need to challenge ourselves, never being satisfied with our achievements? Is that why no one stayed back in the caves and said, “They’re all gonna break their necks trying to fly that pterodactyl”?

“…Troubles in life come when we believe the myth that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.  We are taken over by envy, believing that other people have the good stuff and then feeling depressed, anxious, and persecuted by the belief that we have so little.  We are taken over by greed, wanting more and more and more, feeling that what we have cannot ever be enough.”-- http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/headshrinkers-guide-the-galaxy/201107/mythbusters-the-grass-is-not-always-greener-the-other-sid

When should we stop and enjoy the fruit of our labour? I really don’t know, but I’m sure there must be a time when authors have to except that their book is good enough to see the world. I’d still be improving my novel had I not set a deadline for it (which I changed a number of times, but THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT!). As for Kristen and Robert, I don’t think she wanted something more…I think she was just afraid of having everything.

So how does this ingrained need to yearn for more affect characters in a book? Should we as writers incorporate these feelings at all? This question I can answer and it’s YES. In The Scarlet Omen, Anjeli finds that her life has already been predestined, but it is her choices that make her life hers—that she can go anywhere, be anything and tell FATE to call her agent for further negotiations. I think that’s the whole point of a novel…getting to the end of one journey and realizing that the road branches off to other adventures. Hey, if Eve couldn’t be content with her lot in the Garden of Eden, who are we to question the divine clockwork of the human brain?

Cheers!