One of the most difficult stages of writing for me is the very beginning (a very good place to staaaaart). Looking at the white blank page, cursor blinking, waiting. Creation is intimidating for me in general, but the very first word? The very first introduction to the reader. It can feel overwhelming.

Another difficult stage I’m finding myself in currently is the calm before the storm. The part right before the real action gets going. We know the characters. We know the setting. We’ve seen the foreshadowing. Now it’s time to dig in and get to the thrilling bits. For the longest, and I mean the LONGEST, time, I got stuck in the breath before the plunge. Until the other day when I found myself begin talking to my friends and acquaintances about writing, specifically my novel that’s metaphorically gathering dust on it’s cover. That coupled with some time in nature really energized me. I knew I would finish it some day (does that sound familiar? Ugh!), but I wanted to ensure the novel, the novel I’d been writing in my head for years, was exactly as I wanted it to be. And thus, the paralysis began.

Every solution I had to a problem my characters face were weak. I couldn’t figure out how to transition between events and plot points. Then last week, as if someone had packaged up the answer and delivered it to my brain, the perfect answer came to me. How did I not see it all along? I think it was a forest for the trees situation. It’s hard when your novel is your baby, all your hopes and dreams. Now, I’m writing every day and I’m even tying in Shakespeare and some herbs he references in Hamlet.

Stay tuned for more book news! My next steps are to finish it, clean it up enough for others to read it, and send it to my readers. Eeek!

xMaegan