Okay, I sit down before the computer, turn it on and pull up my WIP. With any luck, the words I wrote yesterday make sense. Maybe there’s an awkward phrase to fix or a common word to replace, but those are just delaying tactics. Any writer knows the real work starts when the words stop scrolling. So I sit and stare at a blank screen.
And stare. And think about going back and doing some ‘good solid editing’. But that’s not what I’m here for. Editing means working with something that exists on the page or hard drive. It’s important, but first there are characters who clamor to get to the end of their story, the one that’s still unfinished. The surroundings and scenes living in my head must be described, the emotions transferred from imagination to page.
Writing is like walking through fog. Even when you know where you want to end up, most of the time you can only see a few steps in front of you. The good thing is, if you just keep walking, you can at least see the next few steps, and then a few more. Eventually you will reach the end of the book and your characters get to their long-awaited destination.
Ann Stephens 