Crash/Reboot

(Somehow I find this Stuart's sign highly profound).


Pitches, synopses and outlines make writing a story seem so tidy and self-contained. But alas, obsessive organization only gets me so far! Especially with my current draft. It's much more of a crash/reboot process. The story keeps evolving. I guess what I'm (re)learning is that stories don't get written in comfort zones with lemonade stands along the way. There are cliffs with an 1000 mile drop in confidence. Sometimes even the creativity evaporates between the sentences and leaves nothing but a dumb strand of ellipses like a dead brain's yawn... I have to be willing to sky dive after the syllables. Rethink the word! Even the Childlike Empress needs a new name now and again, after all.

As Nathan Bransford counsels, "Keep writing."

Replica

Insomnia has its uses. I translated elements from one of my stories into my narrow slice of reality. Behold my crude mortal replica of fairy magic!

Magnolia Secrets

I learn a lot from trees, especially magnolias. They're nothing special for three quarters of the year, but come spring, I've never seen anything quite so ... I would say "beautiful," but that word has been worn so much it barely holds a gloss. There is a magnolia tree on my block that has such an abundance of blossoms, it's like all Eden exploded through the sap! I try to see other humans like that sometimes--full of splendrous troves of talent and possibilities waiting for the courage, hard work and timing to manifest. I think it is easy, when we are so often "plain" and pinned down by routine mundanities, to forget our own colors. To doubt what we are.

Don't let the ink inside dry out before you ever dare to use it!