Writer's Notes

Okay, first story down, a kazillion more to go! You guys are an awesome audience, can I just say?? Like I said earlier, this whole process is a bit vulnerable. Musicians and singers look for avenues where they can perform. Athletes are always front and center, using the crowd to push themselves. Writers? We hide. We tend to hoard our manuscripts like those people you see on the news who can't stop collecting stuff and their house just keeps filling up with junk? It's full of like 18,000 toasters they bought on eBay or something, and they totally know when one is missing. Okay maybe it's not exactly like that. But kinda.

Growing up I let NO ONE read my stuff. My spiral notebooks were sacred. It was a painful experience for the very seldom person I would let read something, as I insisted on watching them read it to judge by their facial expressions if they were fully appreciating it or not.

If too much time had passed with no outward reactions, the notebook was quickly snatched away, "Okay, forget it, you hate, you don't get it, we're done here." Back into my writer's cave filled with all my papers and notebooks I'd go.

I thought I would do a little "writer's note" after each story and let you in on some of my process with the story and the characters. Can I just be totally honest now that the story is done? I had NO IDEA where the story was going until I was a good way through the second segment! Starting with the word sorrow, my word association paper looked kind of like this:

Sorrow:
sad
tears
loss
death
dark
night
runner
quiet
beach
deserted...

And from that Liz and the beach materialized. I knew she had lost someone when she showed up on the beach, but I soon realized my character was in peril. I didn't know how or why, but I assumed I'd figure that out later. Someone (Kristina) asked if I knew anything about high commodities trading....that would be a big fat NO! Thank you Google.

I ended up really liking Liz. Even though she was grieving, overwhelmed and in over her head, I enjoyed that her character was down to earth, could find humor,and still had faith in people. Nate was a suprise character. I knew Liz would need help or interaction with an additional outside person. My first few choices were here brother, or her initial recruiter at work, Mark Jamison. Then suddenly, Nate was there. I really liked Nate but didn't know what his motives were going to be until I wrote him for a bit. I liked that he was a great guy that got caught up in the wrong mess, but was loyal to Liz, and never once thought of abandoning her. I also like to think Nate started to fall for her early on.

I have no idea what the next story will be like. I have a feeling that alot of them will be very different, since my brain is typically all over the place. Some stories will be action, some love, some funny, some serious, some sad, some silly, and hopefully lots that are all of the above. I'm coming out of my darkened writers room and doing my best to relinquish my death grip on the spiral notebooks. The point is to get better and stronger. No way to do that without attempting to leave the comfort zone. Please know constructive criticism is helpful and also very much welcomed. Of course, so is the positive stuff! No way I could do this without you amazing readers. Thank you for your support, it seriously is the coolest. On to the next word, which will be.....redolent. (Happy Birthday Amy:)