Write Me

"A book comes and says, 'Write me.' Madeleine L'Engle

Last Saturday I wrote my 139th post for Hero In Your Soul entitled "Bleeding." In it, I made a declarative statement that was extremely bold for me. "I am a writer." Later, that evening, I had the most remarkable thing happen to me. When I write for this blog, I go to a place deep within myself. I am alone there and that is the place from which I write. But that evening, for the first time ever, there were some who joined me. Kind of shadowy figures, at first: characters for a fiction novel. I couldn't tell how many of them were there, but they were there. And there was something very dark as well.

The next day the characters had a little more form and substance, and the dark part was even darker. By the following day these people had definite shape, and the dark part had a definite purpose. I also knew what the first line of the book would be. I began to write, a few paragraphs here, a few more over here, and right now it's kind of like a puzzle that I am putting together. In the process, I am getting to know my characters. They have depth, like real people, because to me they are real people. Very real people that I carry around with me, everywhere I go. One day when you read my book, they will be real to you, too. I am getting to know them. I'm learning how they speak and what they know and what motivates them. There are four of them right now, my four main characters, but I have a feeling others will join them. At times I guess it's going to feel crowded "in here."

Oh, I had kicked around the idea of a book before. But it never came and said "write me" until I had the guts to say, "I am a writer."

Susan