In glorious technicolour… ta-da!

Yip. That’s your brain.

You think I’m kidding? Well I’m not. It goes like this…

My bag died a slow, nasty death. It started with the handle slowly detaching itself, first one side, then the other. After that, it suffered a chronic zip failure and it was pretty much downhill from there. So I did what every self-respecting mom would do. I borrowed my teenagers funky blue bag. All was great until she had a movie date with friends, and spoke the dreaded words, “Mom, I need my bag.” Drat.

I tucked my purse deep into my armpit, carried my phone and went bag shopping. Now you must understand my history. The last five bags that I have owned have been identical. Black, practical and identical. I go to the same fleamarket, find the same lady (she calls herself ‘The Bag Lady’) buy an identical bag and life goes on without a wobble.

But this time I didn’t. This gaudy multi-colour mess snagged me from the moment I laid eyes on it. Sure I looked at every other bag in the shop, but this one kept singing my name. So I just did it. Bought it. Left the shop, transferred my purse from my armpit to my screamingly bright new bag, ran to the car giggling like a pre-schooler.

It sat smugly on the seat next to me all the way home. Half of me was delighted at the change, half of me a little shell-shocked and my brain hung stranded between the two, frantically wondering why the attraction was so strong.

Then I clicked. This bag is just like us. You see the black… it is strong and deliberate. It gives the bag form and stability, makes it functional and practical. But then… in between all the black you have those crazy colours! That is a writers brain for you… right there. Half of it, analytical and structured – plot / pacing / world-building… all those things that have to line up and be correct for the work to make sense. The other half? Has to fly free and unfettered to find those intruiging storylines, characters that hook the heart of our readers… emotions and exquisite word weaving.

So there you go. Your brain. Well – sort of. 🙂

At least I know why I bought this crazy bag and why it makes me happy everytime I look at it.