The well springs anew

Since January (as you can see from my lack of postings) writing has seemed more like a burden than anything else. This past week the blog came back to life and I toyed a bit with one of my books. Then this morning I was peacefully ignoring the change in the time (partly because I was deluding myself that it actually happened by not setting my bedside clock forward) when Jenny came and stood by my bed.

"Hey, I know something about the cancer," she said.
"Go away imaginary half-developed character from my book," I said back to her.
"No, no. Get up. You need breakfast and a cup of tea. Come on. I'll help you," she said.
"Go away imaginary half-developed character from my book," I repeated.
"OK, so we are going to have to do this the hard way." And she proceeded to sit down on the bed and start rambling off things like what color hair she has and that she likes to wear it pulled back into a ponytail. She told me some things about her marriage that I didn't know and that she has a fondness for red wine when she was stressed. She even described her spinning wheel to me (yes, my main character is a knitter and spinner, too) and what her knitting space looked like. Then she started singing (she doesn't sing very well) until I was forced out of bed.

I'm glad I got up, though, because the words have started flowing again. Characters are taking shape and the plot is finally moving somewhere other than in a circle inside my head. There are some who would say that my conversations with my characters could be described as a psychosis, but I rather like to think of them as more of a creative venue. I carry on conversations with my characters because that is how I learn about real life people. I talk to them. So, Jenny came and talked to me today and from that flowed over three thousand words in a matter of about two hours (and two cups of tea and a bowl of cereal and a yogurt).

It's good to be enjoying writing again. I was thinking a bit about that last night when I went to sleep. I have this magnet that says, "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" My answer has always been to write and publish a book. So I guess my characters are making me answer to that statement.