What ice?

Through sheerest good luck, I met a woman the other day who does all kinds of incredible travelwriting. And she's got this awesome hook, of riding cool motorcycles through fascinating places. I'm frankly in awe of her. She's got the writing career I'd only halfheartedly dreamed of having, sort of allowed my life to wash me away from, and am in the process of reclaiming. But that's not the point. Since I met her, I've been turning over in my mind, what kinds of cool hooks I have. I admit that when bowled over by someone else's sheer coolness, it's really easy to see your own life as being kinda 2-D and Not All That. I keep reading bits and pieces of her stuff, thinking "wow, motorcycles sure are a neat way to break the ice with folks all over the world. Shiny!" And while I was in the middle of some intensely biological childcare activity, the thought struck me... hey, I have kids! And kids are sure a neat way to break the ice with folks all over the world! Shiny!" Um, hello? Dense much? Maybe, just maybe, there's no freaking ice!!!! Maybe, just maybe, there's a whole world, right here and out there and everyplace in between, and we're all plenty cool here. Sans ice. Maybe the whole world is just that much more accessable than we have been led to believe, and maybe all you have to do to write about it is be in it.