Where did I get my idea?

Every published writer complains that this is the question that they are most often asked. I don't know if people assume that there is some secret well known only to published writers and if they can find it they will be published too or what. I know Stephen King often talks about his 'What-if guy'. Me? It was simpler than that. On the way to my paying job one more, I was listening to Bruce Springstein. The song, track seven or eight, I think on the Magic CD suddenly got my brain going. I kept picturing this gold coin and then, I began picturing the man with the coin. Suddenly, I had the wording of the first paragraph. It grew from there as first the man and then the other characters began to speak to me. Now, I have given free rein to the story and the characters themselves. I am excited to see where they take me. :-) After all, it's their story. Shouldn't they be the ones to tell it?

To Write or Not to Write...

Since my early teens, I have felt compelled to write. Write what? Something/Anything...day dreams, wishful thinking, stories as they occur to me. My problem is that eventually I peter out on what I am writing. I think I finished one story ONCE. It turned out to be a poorly written, Harlequin-esque type of story. Not that there is anything wrong with Harlequin. They are often entertaining to my mind. But, the poorly written part was the problem. Heck, if it had been well-written, I might have submitted it to be published and earned a pittance for my efforts.

But, I want to do more, do better than that. I've heard published writers say they write because they must write. I think I've been so fearful of not being able to finish that I remain hesitant to even start. I think now that I may finally, finally have a story-line that must be written. The initial paragraph haunted me for weeks. I got around to putting it on paper and it grew into a whole chapter. But, upon completing Chapter Two, my characters stopped speaking to me. The work sat for weeks, months really.

Two nights ago, the characters started speaking to me again. First, they whispered, one at a time. Next, they spoke together and their insistance became louder and louder. Being the middle of the night, I refused to get up. The next day, I sat down and began to write. Chapter Three suddenly appeared and today Chapter Four came to light.

Anyway...this blog is about my journey to completion of this work and subsequent re-writes and hopefully eventually the efforts to get it published. Who knows, maybe the ideas will keep coming and this will become a blog about the beginning and continuation of a writing career. One can hope.