the good, the bad, and the ugly

Went to the Botanic Gardens today to see the butterfly pavilion. So many butterflies of all colors. Took a handout on how to grow a garden that would attract butterflies and I thought that would be a great idea until I read that you needed to make sure the larvae had enough to eat. I just wanted butterflies--not the caterpillars or the chrysalis.

Like life, I guess. Wouldn't it be nice to have all the beautiful parts and none of the ugly? And writing too. If we write only about the surface things and don't dive into the parts of our lives/ feelings/soul that aren't as nice we get meaningless prose that anyone can write. But, it's hard because writing exposes so much about us and if we write about the ugly, it's like running through the neighborhood naked. Do I really want to expose myself? Do I really want to write?

Maybe that's why I do well at nonfiction- just the facts, ma'am. But fiction is another story--my characters have to be real people with all their warts out there for all to see, and in order for me to know about those warts, they have to be my warts too.