But then there are the rare, wonderful times when something else happens. Something magical. You start picking up story lines, ideas, descriptions, events. Thought and images that say, "Hmm maybe you have something here."
As I brushed my teeth, a verbal hailstorm pounded at my brain. A story was writing itself in my head, imploring me to take dictation. Bam, what about this? Crash, how about that? Smash, here's an interesting twist. Thump, here's an interesting character. No false alarm, this is the real thing.
I stopped my morning ablutions and went to the table. This was more important than anything else. Even as I wrote everything down, more bits and pieces were backlogged in my head, faster than I could get them down. After dozens of aimless leads, the gates were opening and delivering me a scaffold. Is that a mixed metaphor? Who cares. For a writer this is the bona fide "AHA" moment.
From here is a long road of putting the puzzle pieces together. Exploring each one, seeing where fit. There will be the rough draft. The first do-over. The first edit. And the mandatory third and fourth drafts, possibly more. The additions and deletions. And then the moment of truth, taking it to my writer's groups and listening to their suggestions. Taking the ones that fit and letting the rest go. Then the final rewrite and final edit.
From the first tooth brushing flash, up until the moment I finally deem it ready for prime time, it will be perhaps a week, or a month. It's long grind, but in the end, it will have been a blast.
So here I am now with a myriad of sticky notes surrounding me. An empty word doc sits ready to be given a "work in progress" title. I can hardly wait to get started.
More bulletins as events warrant.
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