How Deep Is My Well?

Just listening to Neil Gaiman's MasterClass, and he's saying how, as a young writer with a pile of rejection slips, he decided he didn't know enough about the world. So he pivoted to freelance journalism, which gave him license to go into the world and ask impertinent questions, which is the best way I can think of to learn about a lot of different things in a relatively short period of time.

Genius. And I know what he means.

As a TV feature writer, covering what was ON TV, instead of the business of making it (though I paid attention to that, too), I've interviewed theoretical physicists, forensic pathologists, politicians, actors, writers, directors, producers, homicide detectives, astronomers, veterinarians, astronauts, historians, archaeologists and so on (and covered horse sports, as a hobby, and the Vatican, for a while -- just ask me about encyclicals. I dare you).

Also traveled to many strange places that people on vacation wouldn't normally go to -- a horse farm in Jackson, Mississippi; a tiny historical building and then a rail yard in Richmond, Virginia; a half-finished office building in Panama; a deserted beach, to watch a simulated military landing, in Hawaii; the docks in Long Beach; a Jon's grocery store (a whole day in the frozen-food section); an abandoned bank building in Van Nuys; an overpass in Silver Lake; a high school in Vancouver (and another in New Jersey); a frozen farm field in Toronto (and the drippy basement of an abandoned police headquarters).

I grew up in a blue-collar mill town with a middle-class resort town 12 miles to the north, and an upscale resort town 20 miles to the south. Saw all types, from the super-rich to factory workers to poor farm families and everything in between.

Also, after decades working without a copy-editor net, pretty darn good at grammar, spelling and structuring a story.

So, now, when I sit to write a script, how deep is my well? Let's drop the rock in and listen ...

So, storytellers, how deep is yours?