Please excuse Lucy's absence

Sorry about the unexcused absence. There really is a perfectly good explanation.

Last weekend, while wondering if I could ever write good characters, and why a Harry Potter hadn't landed on my shoulder yet just begging me to tell his story, another set of characters stopped by and have been demanding my attention.

This has never happened to me before. It hit me last Sunday and, except for work, I've been unable to stop writing. Even at work they are chattering away in the back of my head. Luckily work is very busy so I can drown them out. Trouble is I don't want to drown them out. My solution? I decided to take 3 whole days off just to write. How decadent!! I started my outline last Sunday and wrote a key chapter. I've since tightened up the outline and written a prologue and 6 chapters. What the hell is going on? I still don't know if I can write compelling characters but I sure like them. I like them enough to take valuable vacation time to get their story out.

I don't know that I will ever have the guts to let anyone read it. I'm doing this because I'm having so much fun and I like the challenge of it. I've always wanted to write a book but never had a story to tell. Now I do. I'm still not certain I can do it but I'm having fun trying.

I do worry that it's all just a rehashing of other familiar stories but I'm pretty sure it's a new story. Then again I remember reading a story about Paul McCartney waking up in the middle of the night with a great little tune in his head. He got up and wrote down the music for it then went back to sleep. He woke up the next morning only to learn had had written down the music for "Yesterday". Trouble is he'd written "Yesterday" 20 years previously.

That's sort of my fear. I'm afraid I'm going to write all of this down only to find it's been written, much better, before.

Oh well, like I said, I'm just doing this for me, for the fun of it. I'm having a blast but my bottom hurts from sitting so long.

Oh, and I've discovered that I can write to very loud and hyper music. I also have a bulletin board of visual references that's really helpful. Thank God for the Internet! I just think about a location and can quickly look it it and pin it on my board. It's great!

My only distraction today? I got up to get more water from the kitchen and saw the the world's biggest fire engine was parked in front of our house. It literally filled the entire space in front of our house. It was huge! But where were the fire fighters? I looked up the street to see about 15 of them gathered at the corner. I also saw another fire engine parked up the street. I didn't know what was going but I was glad I'd taken a shower earlier.

So anyway, that's what I'm doing. I don't know that I'll be posting here for a the next week or so. Its' really all about channeling this creative energy into this story before it dries up. That's probably my greatest fear, that it will all just float away as quickly as it came.

Here's a weird thing too, when I sit down to write a chapter, I have a general idea of where the story is going but I have no idea where the details and dialog comes from. It's the damnedest thing. I'm literally surprised at the things that come out these character's mouths. I'm just hoping they aren't flat, boring characters that only I like. The girl in the story makes me laugh though and one scene actually made me cry but that may have just been PMS. It's all just a fun adventure.

I think it was that Stephenie Meyer. I told you her story was as interesting to me as her books. Well I guess she inspired me to actually think about creating my own characters and I think I have.

This has never happened to me. I hear writer's say they write because they can't help themselves. I never understood that instinct until now. Now, it's all I can do. I don't even want to leave the house. Yes, it's happened... I'm finally a shut in. *sigh*

Oh, and that picture above? That's a location of mine. What do you think?