Are there persistent ideas easing their way into your brain? Is there one in particular that will not back off no matter how hard you push back on the door?
The idea for another historical serial to present to my editor for consideration has been fermenting since I attended an online talk as a guest last summer. I asked to be allowed a ticket because the subject matter resonated, because I have read and appreciated other work of the speaker and because – well, isn’t all our writing out of our own experience and the talk was closely related to mine?
I don’t want to give too much away because things are still very tentative and much reading up is still to be done. However, I did want to make a writerly comment.
I went along to my writers’. group the other night – Edinburgh Writers’ Club – where the excellent Claire Wingfield was leading a workshop on mentoring. Principally, she was helping us to see what out project was and what was blocking it.
I can’t speak for the others, but I quickly realised that I was blocking my progress and there were practical things I could do to overcome that blockage. Firstly, I exchanged e-mails with a club member who had offered some help. Secondly, I went back to Google and typed in a diffferent search term. Bingo!
Finding the answer to a question which has troubled me all the way through nurturing this idea, has released the block. I now have my heroine, her love interest, her detractors and her purpose in life. Scenes are popping up in my mind. Ancillary questions ditto. What a difference a cleared path makes to the thought processes.
I hope you’ve all had a similarly enlightening week.
Anne