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Knowledge By Association

Today is Valentine's Day.  If you only let the people you care about know that you care about them on holidays, please consider what exactly it is that makes your relationship meaningful, whatever the nature of your relationship.  And go buy chocolate on sale tomorrow, regardless. :)

At the beginning of the month, the podcast Writing Excuses released this cast, talking about using personal life experiences in writing.  This is an extension of the "write what you know" idea, applied in niche form.
I would like to expand that idea even further to a concept of knowledge by association.
AlexPlatonov
I'll give you a few examples from my own life.  My husband is a Network Administrator/guitarist/footballer (the non-American kind)/body builder/gamer/budding bladesmith.  My best friend and her soon to be husband are aerospace engineers.  My mother has taught public school longer than I've been alive, as well as being THE hostess with the mostest.  My dad served in the Army, is a pastor, and is a gun enthusiast.  I have two siblings in the Navy.  My father in law is a mining engineer.  My mother in law is a medical transcriptionist.  My sister in law is a banker.  My brother in law plays hockey.  I have friends that are into cars, movies, bicycles, animals, photography, motorcycles, anime, weapons, knitting, sports, music, home improvement, and that doesn't even touch on what they do for a living.

You get the picture.  If I have questions about any of these things (almost all of which I know little to nothing about) for my writing, my answers are so close I can touch them.  If I am out of story ideas, I don't have to give myself an aneurysm, I just need to shut off the voices in my head and listen to the people around me.

Today, when relationships seem to be the business of the economy, think about what it is that gets you interested in the people around you.  If all your friends were just like you, you wouldn't bother getting out of bed to hang out with them.  So, today, think about those differences, appreciate them.  Listen to what they care about.  Get inspired.

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