I am a voyeur.  OK- not in the real sense of the word.  But I do pay attention to how people interact when they are out in public.  I watch how a mother interacts with her child in Target.  I notice if the couple seated across from me and The Man at dinner are engaged in conversation or simply in their own separate worlds, yet sharing a table.  I pay attention to how Diva In Training converses with her friends on the phone.  I notice how each of my Diva friends make their grand entrances when we meet up for lunch. 

‘Cause I intend to use it all in my writing.

And my family and friends know this.

But I am not simply “recording” what happens.  I don’t regurgitate another person’s experiences.  I process information through my filters.  And what comes out is often dramatically different, yet hopefully full of recognizable truths.  

And for the record, a lot of stuff does just come out of my own head (or from my own experiences), but it seems like the best stuff I write is laced with “truths” that I’ve seen or heard from others.