Spastic Cleaning and the Dilemma

A dilemma, as Alan Watt says in his book The 90-day Rewrite, is a problem that cannot be solved without creating another problem. I know this because I'm reading it for school. There is actually quite a bit of good information and insight to be found. My favorite is found in day 89; "Story is alchemy." You may have noticed that the concept of magic and the written word combining together to make something remarkable fits in with my theme of scribomancy. I wish I'd thought to say it first. Story is alchemy. I love it.

My dilemma today is less of a problem creating problem and more of contemplation. Is it really cheating to do homework instead of house cleaning? If I don't do homework, I risk failing my class, but if I don't do the cleaning thing, I risk irritating my husband and myself. And there's the fact that trying to work in a messy space is not the best way to get things done, at least for me.

A dilemma, again according to Alan Watt, is resolved through a shift in perspective. How does this help me? It doesn't really, but it does help with character development. How often have you seen a movie or read a story where the character absolutely believes in one thing, only to perform a heel face turn at the end. At least this happens in romantic comedies where the characters get a happy ending. Change is a lovely thing for character arcs. Not so lovely a thing for writers who should be doing homework instead of writing blog posts or cleaning instead of doing homework, or writing an actual book instead of doing anything else. Perhaps I'll make some coffee and ponder this dilemma some more.

Until next time, friendly whippoorwills.