It was the last week in September when I wrote a post called “An adventure begins,” and on the spur of the moment, an adventure began.
I had no intention to write a second chapter. It was just a little bit of flash fiction about a morning when Dejah, my beloved 11-year-old golden retriever, started talking to me. Like most flash fiction, it was just a burst of creativity meant to get the reader wondering what might happen next, the shortest of short stories.
I sat in my writing chair thinking about what to write for the next day’s blog post, and my mind kept drifting back to the unpleasant presidential campaign. I had no desire to add fuel to those flames; for years I have been saying that freedom does not depend on choosing the right ruler — it’s about taking responsibility for your own freedom and happiness, exercising your individual rights with the understanding that you must not infringing on anyone else’s individual rights.
I would rather focus on the simple truth that I’ve adopted as this blog’s subhead: Love your neighbor, and everyone is your neighbor.
But oh, the temptation to weigh in on the ongoing puppet theater. As I wrote this summer, “What would I write about with everyone screaming in my ears about politics and government?”
What if — What if — What if I forced myself to write something else?
On a whim I decided to write a second chapter. And the next day, I wrote a third. And suddenly the story was unfolding, with dragons and eagles and elfin beings with a name humans can’t pronounce. I gave myself one rule: Each chapter would begin by resolving the previous day’s cliffhanger, something weird would happen, and there would be another cliffhanger.
Originally I thought I would write all the way up to Election Day, and that would be that. Along the way I realized this was a Halloween fantasy, and so I resolved to finish it on Halloween and then go back to the blog’s usual everyday format.
I also realized that after years of frustration over my inability to sit down and write fiction every day, I had on impulse started writing fiction every day.
So I resolved to start a second blog to continue this momentum of writing fiction every day.
Before I began the work of setting up a second blog, I thought of Wattpad. It’s a place where writers write every day for all the world to see. I experimented with it, years ago, and my account was still active.
I also realized I was writing a book, or at least a novella.
So I gave the book a title and crafted a cover.
And during the last week in October, I started posting the story on Wattpad and doing the work required to turn the story into a book, Dejah & Summer In The Time of Magic. Here’s a place to pre-order it.
Today, over on Wattpad, I’m starting a new story. And in this space, we begin our landing approach to the usual order of business.
First, please allow me to re-introduce myself.
