I’m in the midst of a work in progress which centers around a protagonist who’s in her 80s. The time is the last century. This involves a journey backward to a time that was slower and should have been more peaceful, but in the case of Miss Tootsie, it wasn’t. Peaceful, that is.
As I began to write, I had a vague idea of a story based on a historical fact, a bit of family history. According to my research, there had been a severe miscarriage of justice about, not a direct ancestor, but the sibling of an ancestor which occurred more than a hundred years ago. Being justly saddened by this, I decided to use it as the basis for a mystery in which the true perpetrator of the crime was caught.
There! That was the kernel of the thought. But now, to flesh out the story with imaginary characters, a made-up town, and a plot. I would not use real names. As the old Dragnet series went, “the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”
But, as we all know, a story has to have a beginning, a middle, and a satisfactory conclusion. That’s where the work comes in. And, the fun. Writing is good therapy and, let’s face it, a whole lot of satisfaction. So, with great glee, I’m re-writing a story that should have turned out the way mine does!
I’m hoping to get back in the writing groove. Seems there’s so much that needs to be done these days and not enough time to do it! By the time I get it all done, I just want to relax. When I first started writing, I had a full time job. I also neglected lots of stuff around the house to make time for writing. There’s still evidence of how I let things slide before.
I understand that. I don’t know what it is, but I’ll think, OK, I’ll write after I do this…or that… and writing is put on the back burner when it shouldn’t be at all. Thanks for writing, Morgan.