Idea Graveyard
Things that live in my brain.
A break from my norm, I’m sharing some writing ideas I’ve had over the years that have been sitting in my Google Drive forever. Just a hodgepodge of what comes out of my brain and then I never tackle. I also have something like 100+ drafts in my Substack folder as well! Not going to list those here, we’d be here all day and nobody wants that. Maybe nobody wants this either, but I can’t imagine that I’m alone in this graveyard.
I also know that I’m breaking some sort of cardinal rule that says we’re not supposed to do this? Maybe? I don’t know.
I haven’t finished the essay I was writing yet and so I went digging for something else to write about… and decided to say “what if I just shared a few half finished ideas?”
And voila “Idea Graveyard” was born..
Come stroll for a brief moment through my mind.
First up is an idea for a book I wanted (maybe one day) to write. I wrote out this tiny little outline about 10 years ago. And then abandoned it. I’m not sure why really. I was feeling particularly ambitious at the time, I was wrapping up my BA in psychology and thinking a lot about the Positive Psychology movement, I wondered briefly if I’d use this as a thesis when I was considering going after my doctorate. Alas, I didn’t do that either - student loan debt already crushing me, I couldn’t justify taking more money out. Anyway.. I present you now with…
Laughter Is The Best Medicine
Outline:
Therapy and coping
Finding a sense of humor
Understanding the need to laugh
Making others laugh
Not everyone gets it
How to use laughter as medicine
Laughter and love - what happens in the brain
Laughter and human connection
Conclusion - the prescription for a lifetime of laughter
Laughter is the best medicine is part pop psychology and part personal narrative. I will use bits and pieces of my life to show how laughter has been a life preserver. I will reference different scientific studies to back up my anecdotes. I will use neuroscience studies to show what happens in the brain when we’re laughing and how similar it is to when you’re falling in love. I will also reference how many doctors prescribe laughter as an actual medicine.
Another idea I had and did start to write about (and shared here on the Stack) in a nearly serialized memoir kind of way. I think I shared two or three “chapters” last year. Again, this was (is maybe?) going to be a book. All of it stemming from the phrase “Capricious Youth,” which I had heard in a 90s movie called Mallrats directed by Kevin Smith, and it stuck with me.
I wanted to tackle girl friendship themes and the things we go through growing up.
I’m not sure why I stopped writing it, other than I had all these other ideas pop up and another memoir to tackle, so this one is shelved for now. Below are the two pieces I shared in 2024.
Capricious Youth
Ca-pri-cious = adjective given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior
Youth = noun the period between childhood and adult age
And yet another idea I had…
Rescue Me: All My Celebrity Crushes
I woke up from a dream in which I was doing Jared Leto’s taxes. I have no idea what this means or why my subconscious suddenly turned me into an accountant. But it lead me to the idea to write about my celebrity crushes, of which there have been many.
My imagination was born from the loneliness and boredom of only-childness. I spent most days alone, left to my own devices. I was raised by books, Barbies, tv, and music. I remember the first boy I actively had a crush on, he was in a movie called Zoo Gang. I remember thinking about how cute he was, how I knew what cute was is beyond me. I can’t remember his name either. But he was the first one I remember thinking about as more than just a random boy.
Next came the boys of Stand By Me, Corey Feldman was it for me, but also River Phoenix and Wil Wheaton (swoon). I remember wondering how to contact them, searching in Bopp or Teen Beat for addresses to send fan mail. I think this is when my boy craziness set in.
By the time I discovered New Kids On The Block I was a goner.
(I didn’t write anything else beyond this. Though I absolutely could, because there’s so much more! And who knows, maybe one I really will.)
That’s the end of my idea graveyard for now. Little word ghosts following me around with “pick me! Pick me!” signs. Tell me friends, do you have an idea graveyard? Please feel free to share with me! I so enjoy when you share your thoughts. 🩵
I hope everyone is doing as well as you can.
I’m currently thinking about the bullshit Kansas law that just passed making Trans people’s drivers licenses invalid and forcing them to get a new one with their birth assigned sex. It’s fucking bullshit and belongs in graveyard that never sees the light of day.
Fuck trump! Fuck Kansas! Fuck ICE! Fuck fascism! Fuck these pdofiles!
For me it was Corey Haim.