With my first novel, Granny\u2019s Got a Boyfriend, soon to be published, I decided to
\nreactivate my blog, and I will begin by telling you a story. The story is entitled \u201cHow my first
\nnovel was born.\u201d<\/p>\n
The novel began with words tumbling around in my head at 5 a.m. one morning as I lay
\nin bed wide awake and unable to get back to sleep. There were just a few ideas at first, despite
\nmy efforts to push them away. Then actual dialogue began to come to the fore. One sentence
\nfollowed another, until I finally thought, \u201cMaybe I should get up and write this down.\u201d I went to
\nmy computer and began writing. After two hours of rapid clacking on the keyboard, I realized
\nthis was the beginning of a book. I\u2019ve no idea why I suddenly found the opening of a book
\nrushing through my head. I\u2019d never written fiction, but here I was at 7 a.m., without so much as a
\ncup of coffee, writing a novel.<\/p>\n
Perhaps I should say the novel was writing itself, because when I went back to it later
\nthat day, the words kept flowing. Would that it had remained so easy, but after Ann tripped,
\nBryan helped her up, and they made their way back down the trail. I didn\u2019t know where they
\nwere going next. It seemed to be their story, not mine.<\/p>\n
The following day, the story seemed to be waiting for me. Bryan said this, Ann said that,
\nand the next thing I knew, they were having dinner.<\/p>\n
I was talking with a fellow writer the other day, and we discussed how some authors plot
\nout every curve in the road before they sit down to write. Others seem to let the story develop of
\nits own accord. I appear to be one of the latter, because Ann and Bryan and all the other
\ncharacters in the book seemed to be standing off stage waiting to deliver their lines when the
\ntime was right. Initially, their words and actions left much to be desired. Practice, i.e., editing,
\ndraft after draft, would finally yield a solid performance. But it took well over a year for the story
\nto come to an end. And the joys and sorrows of that year will be the subject of the forthcoming
\nepisodes of this blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With my first novel, Granny\u2019s Got a Boyfriend, soon to be published, I decided to reactivate my blog, and I will begin by telling you a story. The story is…<\/span><\/p>\n