I LIKE DUCT TAPE.
I can’t tell you specifically why, but I really like duct tape. I find uses for it quite often. If something is broken or loose or needs a patch, I’ll be the one to say, “Did you try duct tape? Use duct tape on it.”
Often I have heard it called “duck tape”, which makes me laugh. Apparently it has been called one or the other since the 1940’s, and was useful as duck tape to WWII soldiers.
Have you ever watched The Red Green Show? It’s a popular Canadian sitcom that was on television from 1991 to 2006 in Canada and the United States – and continues in reruns. The main character, Red Green, found all kinds of crazy and ingenious ways to use duct tape. He would say it’s “the handyman’s secret weapon” because his motto was “if women don’t find you handsome they should at least find you handy.”
I have been saying for some time now that I have to find some duct tape in a colour other than the usual grey, and I want pink. Just because I like pink.
Look at what my daughter found when she was shopping in a local hardware store recently —
Oh … my! A whole display. And look at all the colours and patterns! She likes the zebra one — second one in on the bottom left.
I told my husband about it, and when I came home for my week off — look at what he had bought for me —
PINK DUCT TAPE! What a guy! 🙂
Now take a closer look —
The company picked up on the other name and marketed it. Duck tape duct tape. How clever! And the pink is called Funky Flamingo. Hilarious!
How can I relate this to writing? …
Have you ever been writing along and suddenly you are on what seems a totally wrong path for your story?
Perhaps your character starts acting out in a way you didn’t plan, or the plot takes an unexpected turn. Instead of trying to pull it all back to what you first had in mind, try going with it, ‘market it.’ Maybe that duct tape you thought you had turns out to be a roll of duck tape. Doubly good. Underneath it is the same, but on the surface you are about to go on a wonderful adventure that will be even more meaningful when pieced together.
Have you ever started out with one idea and ended up with something entirely different? Or with added twists that make your story even better?
Remember, duct tape … or duck tape … is used to hold things together, and to repair things, and to create new things. Have you used any lately, figuratively or for real? What difference did it make?
Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! 🙂
Polilla Writes 