The Writer's Bridge

Every year about mid October they shut down this bridge so people can jump off. I don't think they let them jump off without a parachute! Thankfully, that's a springboard for another story to be written by someone who makes a practice of jumping off perfectly good bridges.

I have to cross this bridge many times in the course of a year. I've become a huge fan of this bridge. It helps me span the gaps of reason in my mind to build on imagination. For years people had to meander down a treacherous winding single lane road to the New River far below. They would then cross a rickety old style bridge and wind their way back up the far steep mountainside to get to where they were going.

Now, taking either pathway makes for great writing. There are adventures the old way and thrills driving across the new bridge. The bridge was completed back in the 1970's. It's birth had to happen in some one's imagination and be sold as a solid idea that could be achieved to government officials and tax payers. Once the money was earmarked companies had to be informed, bids received and the workers hired to do the job. It took a lot of work and community cooperation to build this tallest bridge in the Northern Hemisphere.

People drive across the bridge every day. Except for the feeling or fear of falling they don't give the bridge a second thought. That's the job of the writer. Their job is to build structures to help bridge the fiction gap so people don't have to experience building the bridge themselves. If they have to do the work, they would rather take the old scenic route and escape the labor. Of course if you are writing about building a bridge then yes, put the passenger in the construction worker boots complete with hard hat, shovel, bull dozier, welding hood and whatever other tools you may need to assemble this complex yet elegant bridge. Then as they drive across and see the other bridge crossers they can move with pride of achievement.

Sometimes I stand at the precipice of writing. Everything seems well constructed and then I find a huge impasse, a gap that needs crossing and I find it's time to build a bridge. At that moment I have to make a decision. Do I take the road less traveled? Or do I jump the gap with super human ability, or do I build an elegant bridge? Or, do I hollar "Geronimooooooo" and dive into the canyon below? Don't rush me, I'm thinking.