Conjuring Ideas: A Writer’s Triumph Over Adversity

Late Morning, Thursday, August 1, 2024, Madison, New Hampshire

* In rough draft form, anyway.

“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”― Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades

Last night, despite poor concentration that results from stress and exhaustion, I worked on the novel after my usual “stop time” of 6:00 PM and wrote a rough draft for a new scene in Reunion: Coda

Yesterday was tough. I struggled during most of my afternoon work shift attempting to transfer the embryonic concept for Scene Four of The Storm Breaks (Chapter 19) from my somewhat foggy brain onto Microsoft Word, but with little success. It’s never easy to conjure ideas from thin air and put them into writing, and it’s even more difficult when you have a million other things on your mind. By 4 PM, I was so disheartened by my lack of progress that I contemplated leaving work early, shutting down my PC, and having an early dinner before watching a movie in my room.

I didn’t want to do that. Instead, I started writing a detailed outline for the new scene around 4:30, thinking that if nothing else, I’d have a blueprint from which to work today.

Honestly, I didn’t expect it, but I managed to finish a five-paragraph outline by 6 PM. It was pretty basic with almost no dialogue but had a clear start, middle, and end. Feeling good about getting that far, I began hammering out the first line of the new scene, thinking I’d just kick things off for today’s work session.

I don’t know how I pulled it off. I was worn out, super stressed, and feeling kind of down. Plus, I was dealing with dizziness. I had a quick bite for lunch at the same time as always but, looking back, it wasn’t enough. But still, I kept at it and didn’t stop typing until 9 PM.

When I took a moment to lean back in my chair and chill, I caught a glimpse of my rough draft and, to my surprise, there it was—an entire scene finished!

Sure, it’s a first draft that needs some polishing – kind of like an uncut diamond. But, you know, it’s written decently, has all the key moments I wanted, nails the tone, and even boasts some pretty good dialogue.

I’ll take that over a blank page any day!