“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at 9 o’clock every morning.” — attributed to M. Somerset Maugham and several other writers.
8:57 a.m. Monday
Three minutes until Inspiration is scheduled to check in — what will it bring me today? As I wait to tap into its offering, I listen and reach my brain receptors to receive what I can from the ether.
8:58 a.m.
Two minutes now, and the sun is shining and the dogs are lying peacefully to my left.
8:59 a.m.
One minute, and it’s so quiet in the house that I can hear the clocks ticking — and … 9 o’clock.
A revolutionary general — no, not wearing a red coat, but a general in a revolutionary army — but if this army has generals, is it really so revolutionary?
(Am I going to question my every word and phrase or roll with the flow?)
Still — What if this revolution leader declines the title “general,” as George Washington famously declined to be called a king and declined to run for a third term as president?
“I don’t want to be a general. I don’t want a military title,” said this leader. “I want my land to be freed from the tyrant and released from its bondage. We don’t need to raise an army to do that, and I don’t want to serve in such an army, even as its leader. I just want the tyrants gone — not dead, not obliterated, just gone. And I don’t need to be a general to drive them away.”
Is this general what Inspiration has given me for today?
“Cut!’ yelled someone from somewhere. “You don’t ask questions like that, you just roll with the flow!”
I’m just wondering if this character, this Leader Not a General, is the person Inspiration wants me to build a story around.
“Why don’t you try writing a story and see if it works?”
I don’t want to waste time on a character who can’t support a story.
“Good grief,” said someone from somewhere. “You’re missing the point.”
No, I’m not. It’s only 9:10 and I’ve already met the leader of a revolution and a character I’ve named “someone from somewhere” who keeps interrupting my creative flow.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” said someone from somewhere. “OK, I’m sorry — carry on.”
Three.
“What?”
Now I have three characters. Hello, Pete, how are ya?
“Oh, now you’re just being silly,” Pete said.
I like silliness.
“Stop,” said Pete. “For my sake, just stop.”
Fine.
