Yes you can polish a turd.

Are you wondering, does this guy actually practice what he preaches or is this all smoke and mirrors? 

The answer is yes and no. Yes I do follow my advice, and no i'm not just putting on a show.

This week, I had an idea for a new story. The idea came to me at the gym, on the bench press to be precise. Oddly it's where i'd say half of my "ah ha" moments come from. With nowhere to write my little notes, I prayed dementia would not take the idea away before I got home. 

Thankfully, it didn't and as soon as I got in, I took out some sticky notes and wrote down my main idea plus the half dozen other ideas which had since come to me.

Oh, this one needed some research. So I Googled what I needed, which included; Ellis Island 1920, Trans Atlantic steamers early 1900's, Cork, "Irish need not apply." Guess where I am going with this?

Once I had all the information I needed on yet another dozen sticky notes, I just wrote. I didn't stop to evaluate or make corrections. I let the words flow onto the page. Sometimes I still don't know where they come from.

Upon taking a break, I read over what I had, and you know what? I hated it. Well maybe that's too strong a work. I despised it. It was cold, academic and I had no connection with my main character.

Know what the next feeling was? Excitement. This is the ultimate challenge. Like the potter with his lump of clay. Maybe I would rework this a dozen times. Perhaps add dialogue, maybe other characters, a couple of sidebars. There will come the time I finally read it over, smile and say, "Yup this works". 

There are other times you'll have an idea you think is great fodder for a clever story. Sadly, you may find that no amount of reshaping and reworking can make it work. Don't throw it out, just put it in the file of unfinished stories. One day you may have an epiphany. 

More often though, you'll watch your fractious tale morph into something you are happy to send to the publisher. As the potter knows, the final product is in there, it just needs to be released into the world.

PS The title of this post comes from the movie "Christine."