Chatterbox(DOG EAR)

f I know one thing about myself, it’s that I talk too much. I know that’s where my writing has all come from, the desire to get a story out, regardless of how long it takes, to share it with the world.

The problem with this (and with the world) is that it really doesn’t care. The world has better things to do. And the older you get, the more things you experience, but the less people want to hear it. Young people have shorter attention spans. They don’t have time for a long story or joke to develop, to have the misdirection or pace established. They don’t want to be forced to laugh or groan. They just want to move on. That’s why they like texting; they can get out of any chat by just stopping. No disengagement. Just punch out.

But that’s them, and this is about me.

So yes, I love good stories, long ones, as long as they are told well and have a point. It’s tricky to do, and you need to hit the pace just right. Personally I think I do that well, even if my audience has a netflix-induced expectation. Their loss.

I was thinking about this last night. I was riding in a friend’s truck to help move stuff. Rode over and back. Told a couple of stories to fill the time – had a couple interesting things happen in my life. Realized (as we got home) that I’d pretty much talked the whole time. And regardless of dismissing people for being bad-listeners, I realized with reflection that I was a bit of a blabbermouth. Poor guy.

I gotta catch myself on this. I get so much into the storytelling, thinking of myself as an epic storyteller, that the winds howl and one tale leads into another. I lose sight of proper verbal interaction, of reading my audience (especially the ones who have died) and push on … and on and on.

I have gotten a little better with age. I used to tell large parts (if not all) of movies. A friend once called me a “Human DVD player”. I finally caught onto that and (I think) no longer do it. So yes, I can improve. As for the rest of it, I’ll work on it. But I suspect that, with my dying breath, I’ll still be telling a story to my bored bedside audience.

If I have one.