O.C. Writers

By Barbara Neal Varma //  

It all started when I reposted a past banner photo across the top of my Facebook page (see below). The pic shows me—or at least my denim-clad legs—stretched out across the love seat in my home office writing cave.

Not that you can immediately tell it’s me. My head and shoulders are cropped out to coax the viewing audience to notice the open writing journal in my lap … then the run of legs as mentioned … and then, finally, my bare naked feet and their notorious toes.

Scandalous, one might say, because I rarely wear open-toed shoes even in summer, preferring to keep my hardworking tootsies warm and cozy in comfortable sneaks or flats. No doubt the fact that I’m showing a little skin below the ankle, hubba hubba, took folks by surprise. The toe ring, especially, seemed to cause quite the stir.

This makes me happy. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, and the message I’d hoped to convey with this pic was that writing is my jam. It gives me that carefree, feet-up feeling that only comes with doing what I love.

But here’s the secret. That casual, relaxed-to-the-max pose?  Was anything but. My feet were uncomfortably angled to show more of their tops than their calloused bottoms, and my jeans were rigged to look smoothly taut by a couple of hidden chip clips that held the fabric in place.

My lower back was pressed against the sofa’s unyielding armrest; and perhaps most challenging, my tummy’s middle-age pooch was so breathtakingly sucked in I thought I’d pass out before my husband could even take the picture, take the picture!

That final magic shot was, like, the gazillionth attempt over the course of a long and tedious afternoon. And even then the pic had to be Photoshopped to get it just right, including cutting out the lower half of my sagging butt lest anyone notice how it sank like an anchor into the cushions.

I hear Victoria’s Secret models go through the same thing.

So what does this have to do with writing? Everything, actually. To me, that picture is the perfect metaphor for the writing craft. It takes time. You gotta get through the first few attempts before the story starts to emerge. And, yeah, sometimes you have to work really hard to make it look really easy.

I love that photo. Not because the nail polish on my hands matches my toes—although, seriously, how cool is that?—but because of everything you don’t see. Like all the planning, prayers and pixie dust that went into it.

My hope is that when folks read my writing, they don’t notice the carefully posed words at all but see only the story instead.

I hope my thousand words make a picture.

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BARBARA NEAL VARMA is a contributing writer to Orange Coast Magazine and has appeared in other notable publications, including The Atlantic. Her easy-humor personal essays have proven popular with readers, one gaining numerous hits on Orange Coast Magazine‘s website. (Hello: Desperately Seeking Donny.) You can learn more at BarbaraNealVarma.com.