Just one of those things...

As I was driving my kids to storytime today, I thought of a great opening for my current story. I'd been trying for several days to get the beginning just right, and suddenly I had it! Cue the problem: I was driving. Not knowing what else to do, I started reciting the sentences over and over, hoping the repetition would help me to remember them. My son thought I was talking to him, though, and trying to explain that Mommy was talking to herself caused me to forget the exact wording of the sentences. Traffic was too heavy for me to stop, so my only hope was to get to a red light, then use the voice notes recorder on my BlackBerry to record everything I could remember. Now, most days, especially when I'm running late, I hit every red light. Today, of course, green lights prevailed, which is the way it always goes, isn't it? When I had almost reached my destination, a red light finally caught me, and I was able to set up the recorder. I placed the phone in my lap and continued driving, reciting what I could still remember. Unfortunately, the wording I recorded wasn't the "perfect" wording that had made me so excited. The good news is that I think I have enough to work with, so maybe I'll be able to re-create the sentences--or even make them better.

This was just one of those things, I guess, but I learned my lesson: always have the voice recorder ready so that if I can't write something down, I won't lose it.

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

A new adventure

I started another project today, one that I'm really excited about. It's a story idea that I mentioned in a previous post, one that seemed to come out of nowhere, not just in flashes, like so often happens for me, but in its entirety. I know how the story starts, what happens in the middle, and how it ends, which is unusual because my story ideas are usually incomplete, missing one or sometimes even two of those vital components. I don't have all of the details yet, of course, but the big picture is there. The details will emerge as I write.

This story is a departure from what I usually do, and the idea of trying something a little outside of my comfort zone is very exciting!