Look At Me!

I spent most of today at the Civil Air Patrol's Unit Commander Course, learning the things I'll need to know if I ever become a squadron commander (which won't happen in the near future, but will probably happen eventually). It's been pretty interesting so far, though I think tomorrow will be even moreso. It's especially been interesting putting faces to all the names of the Wing brass, so that's kind of cool.

As soon as I got home, we took my daughter to her pre-school for their "Trunk or Treat" party. This consisted of parents and teachers with (literally) trunkfuls of candy and all the cute preschoolers going from car to car saying "Trick or Treat!" My daughter was dressed in a full-body fuzzy Care Bear costume -- too cute for words! She was going up to strangers saying, "Look at me! I a Care Bear! I a purple Care Bear! I soft!" She's such a hoot! There's not a shy bone in this child's body (I wonder where she get's that from? :) ).

I sometimes wonder if writers aren't the utlimate exhibitionists. My daughter isn't afraid of anything or anybody and definitely speaks her mind. I know a lot of writers are social introverts (at least, that's the Dickensonian stereotype -- Lord knows I'm an extrovert and half). But in what other profession do you literally bare your soul and hope people will pay money to read about it? And then we do it again. And again. Even actors on stage don't have to be that extroverted -- they're playing a role, after all, it's not really them. Writers, on the other hand, have to put all of their emotion into their work. I'm not sure you'd be any more exposed if you suddenly got the urge to run naked outside (oh, wait, I think I've done that...).

Is every writer secretly saying, "Look at me!"?