The empty page hey?
It’s day 15 of Nano, but for me it was like day 1. But I got there. I showed up. I got out pen and paper, and I wrote done a truckload of crappy ideas.
You see, I’ve written drafts of book 1 and 2 of this junior fiction series. But I want to have an outline or at least an idea of book 3 and 4. Otherwise, I won’t feel confident that this thing really is a series. Not just a story that I wrote, then split into 2 stories and wrote them again. Like a dividing cell.
I was wondering if I could create new from scratch.
And you know how it feels when you’ve written a stinking pile of crap ideas.
Yep. Crap.
So, I sat at my desk until 6am. Then I put the problem in my head and held it there a while I went for a run. About half way I gave myself permission to think about it.
And boom! In popped not one but two ideas!
Look, one of the ideas came from the current book – I seeded it. Go me!
But, up until today, I had no idea how to pull the idea off.
The other came out of nowhere. And I tell you if I get this one right, it will be super funny.
So, first up, I just want to say. SHOW UP.
Secondly, hold your ideas close. When you switch your mind off the answers will come.
Thirdly, when those ideas come, have something nearby to record them.
For me, it’s a breathless… Hey Siri, Can you please open voice memos.
And then a bunch of breathing with the occasional idea huffed and puffed over the top.
How do you record your ideas?
