Hanging

Amazing what craziness ensues when you have three people headed to three different schools twice a week. This year I have returned to teaching preschool while my husband has returned to finish his master's and my oldest is starting first grade. As I was wrapping up the summer and preparing for our school year, I knew that I had better get my novel to a good place as I would have to set it aside for a week or two in order to get things under control. But to make matters worse, all I could see were the problems in my novel, no solutions, and no new scenes; as though all my characters had decided to give me the silent treatment.

While exercising one morning, my writer's block disappeared and I jogged in place beside the kitchen counter as I quickly scribbled out ideas for several new scenes which would take my characters closer to their destinations. So excited to flesh out the ideas, I kept thinking and praying for a moment to write. Finally the moment came and I literally left one of my characters hanging upside down. All through school opening I kept envisioning her face upside down, dripping with saltwater, waiting for me to get settled so I could finish what I had begun. But the days went by and I hadn't settled yet - lesson plans, homework, lunches, laundry, teething baby, nametags ... and then, finally, a moment and I got to finish the scene. What a feeling! It was the perfect scene to leave unfinished because my mind kept returning to it, working on it, longing for it. And now, I can keep writing. (and no one is left with blood rushing to their head!)