Tuesday, March 13, 2007

My Bishopric Has 27 Fingernails

By Darvell Hunt

My bishopric has 27 fingernails. Each member of my ward’s leadership has a missing fingertip on his left hand, leaving all three of them with only 9 fingernails each.

I can write with my left hand. So can my dad, my dad’s dad, my son, and my sister. Only three of us are left-handed.

When my youngest daughter was born in 2000, her name was the third most common girl’s baby name that year in the United States, even though her name was practically nonexistent before a 1984 film directed by Ron Howard.

While I don’t know if any of these details make a good story or not, they are certainly interesting bits of information. And—they are all true details from my life. I don’t think I have a terribly interesting life, but I do have unique experiences that might become source material for my writing.

One of the most common questions I hear asked of writers is: Where do you get your ideas? I have one simple answer for this question:

LIFE.

Be observant and you, too, can tell interesting stories.

2 comments:

Tristi Pinkston said...

That bishopric thing is true? Wow, that's pretty funky.

Darvell Hunt said...

Yes, it absolutely is true, no joke, although it is kind of funny. I think the bishop has two missing joints and the two councilors each have one missing joint.

We just got a new ward some three or four weeks ago and these guys were just put together in the bishopric. Honestly, how could that be accidental? It must be inspiration or something, right? What are the chances of that happening? I mean, it's got to build your testimony, doesn't it? LOL. (Yikes, was that lightning outside? It's not even raining...)

I don't know why any of them are missing finger joints, I just know it's true. My eyes don't lie. Most of the time, anyway.

Darvell