Do you have one thing that everyone associates you with? Maybe its leopard print, and people buy you key chains, t-shirts and stuffed animals covered with the pattern on a regular basis. Or it's honey mustard, and your social media channels are flooded with condiment-related posts. Well, for Pat Schmatz --- at least at the time she was writing her book, LIZARD RADIO --- that thing was lizards. Read her post below to learn how one little lizard doodle turned into a full blown obsession and, eventually, an entire book!
I am not a fan of reptiles in general, and I’ve never had a particular affinity for lizards. But a poorly drawn lizard turned up in my sketchbook one morning some years back, and that launched me on a lizard quest.
This young lizard was wearing headphones with a cord that went nowhere, and trying desperately to get a signal. Why? A signal from what? What did it mean? I had only whispers of ideas, so I began to study lizards.
I got lizard books from the library, fiction and non-fiction. I watched YouTube videos of Jesus lizards and Komodo dragons. I practiced drawing lizards (and got better at it!). I looked up metaphysical and archetypal ideas about lizards. As I learned lizard facts and lore, the Young Lizard began to speak.
She spoke in poems and snippets and rants. It wasn’t always easy for me to find the signal --- I confess to occasionally getting on the floor and trying to move like a lizard, just to get in sync. I confess to purchasing a lizard ring and wearing it all the time and asking it to decode for me.
Somewhere mid-lizard studies, the Komodo dragon fully caught my attention. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. They’re so deliciously powerful and ferocious and wild. I talked about them whenever I did middle school visits, and sixth graders loved hearing and sharing gory Komodo facts and stories.
My friends helped with the Komodo research. Becky in Florida spoke to the animal handler at the local gator farm and made arrangements for me to have an up-close and personal visit with the Komodo dragon there, close enough to smell its breath. Alice and Mitzi met me in Florida and filmed the event. Mitzi sent me a video and photos. Jane, who taught me about the power of endowed objects, gave me a tiny Komodo that sits on my keyboard while I work. She also sent me ten metal lizards on a string. Other friends posted lizard pictures and news stories about Komodo dragon attacks (it happens more often than you might think) on my Facebook page.
I followed the string of lizards, led by the mighty Komodo, through multiple drafts of the Young Lizard’s story. Kivali finally told me her name and her backstory. She insisted on speaking in first-person present tense (never my favorite way to tell a story). She stepped out of her lizard skin and then rolled back into it. She lost herself and found herself, and she took me with her the whole way.
I learned why she wanted the signal so badly, and I learned where the signal came from. I learned more than I bargained for about myself, about vapes and boundaries and escapes, and about the gaps in between. I learned many things I needed to know, which to me is the best outcome of the writing process. I write to understand the story I’m trying to tell.
I am grateful to the lizards.
Pat grew up in rural Wisconsin and has lived in Michigan, California and Minnesota. In addition to writing, she’s interested in language study (ASL, Italian, Japanese and Spanish), drawing/cartooning, travel and anything outdoors. She occasionally teaches writing on-line and in person, and is always happy for a chance to visit a middle school or high school classroom. Her #1 favorite hobby, relaxation and adventure has been the same since she was little –-- stories. Stories in books, music, art, dance –-- it’s all about the story.
