STRUGGLING TO START...

I've had voices in my head for the past week. Not THOSE kind of voices but I've had the inkling of a story going round and round. Just a wisp of an idea, no real theme or plot but I could hear the voice of the narrator.

So of course I did nothing and waited for the story to crystallise.

Nothing happened.

I did my usual tactic when this happens.

I headed out to the garden. Surely a quick walk around between showers, in the cold cold winds will jog the old brain.

Unfortunately, I got to admire the jonquils and the first of the daffodils but nothing came.

There was no great insight. No AHA..that's what's the story all about.  I worked on something else (the dreaded novel WIP). All the time this voice kept harking away.

So I began to question who was this woman? Who was she speaking to? And why did I keep seeing this family next door? What did they have to do with the story? Is this a story at all?

Well of course, after so many days with the questions going round and round, I decided it wasn't a story UNLESS I began to put down some words.

Oh my, is it sloooooowwwwww going. Probably because I have no real idea. I may have started in the middle, this may be the ending I'm writing. But if I don't put something down I won't know.

And maybe this will lead nowhere but at least the woman is being heard. I'm putting down her voice...although where this goes, if anywhere, is still unknown.

Too many days wasted as I waited for the muse to hit me over the head with THE STORY.

As I said it may go nowhere, but at least I'm putting something down.

I think at times we wait because we don't want to write crap. Honestly what I've written is not the best. Not pure crap but sometimes it's close. I think sometimes, we have to write it out. We are searching for a way in, a way to get to the heart of the story.

I'm giving myself permission to write badly. Write it down and hope there is a story in there somewhere. If not, it's all experience isn't it?

Vicki