I haven't been blogging lately, so I apologize. But see, I've been thinking. I've been trying to come up with a great idea. And as we all know, nothing is as stifling as having to have a great idea.
See, I decided to enter a literary contest - something I've never done before. You know the ones, where you enter a short story by a certain date. Well, the date was looming. And tumbleweeds have been blowing through my brain.
Nothing. I was in an idea dead zone.
It was so strange. Usually, I consider myself an idea person. I don't freak on deadlines, I'm pretty good with word association, and if someone is stuck for a new plot line or twist, I can usually offer a cogent thought or two.
But this time, I think I just tried too hard. Coming up with a great story idea can sometimes be like trying to fall asleep - you just have to let it happen. If you think about it, concentrate on it, wonder and worry about it, you'll be left lying in bed with your eyes wide open, trying to figure out what went wrong.
And that's where I was in my story idea process. So I stopped. I just stopped trying so hard. If I didn't have an idea, if I couldn't enter this contest, would it really be the end of the world? It wouldn't, of course. I started to relax.
And sure enough, just before the weekend, the clouds literally parted while I was stuck in traffic. I looked up, toward the sun, and something clicked. Finally. An idea. Not a complete one, not a perfect one, but a pretty good one. I worked it out in my head all the way home, thinking of the logistics. And it just might work.
Sometimes, the best things happen when we simply let them.
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