One of the constants in my life since I was about 10 has been writing. Of course, when I say constant I don't mean that I write six pages a day like Stephen King. It's not like that.
When I say constant, I'm talking about something that's always there with me, that helps and balances my day. Sometimes, it may just be a couple of lines on a little note with an idea for a story. Sometimes, it may just be a three line poem reflecting on something that happened in the course of the day, or a cryptic micro poem. And sometimes, the words flow and I end up writing various pages.
Sometimes, there are dry spells. Life gets busy, I'm overcommitted or over-exhausted and I just don't have the time and energy to write. But I still write short stories and poems and in my head. the words dance in my mind, they speak to me and then go into slumber but are still present ready to spring back to life when I finally have moment to sit down and write.
I have to be honest, I haven't been writing much this year. It's been one of those years when I've had to prioritise other things and other people. I simply didn't have the time nor energy to write. The epic fantasy novel I started writing a couple of years ago was left aside, languishing in limbo.
Still, my mind sometimes wondered to that fantasy land, the woods, the valleys, the ocean... And the characters appeared to me every now and then. They surfaced from behind a tree talking to each other, comforting each other or fighting to protect their way of life.
I've had a bit of time these last four weeks and it's been wild. I don't think I've ever written so many words in my life. The writing has flowed easily. Perhaps because the story and the characters have been with me for so long, I don't know. But it's a good feeling.
The novel is nowhere near finished but I'm reckon I'm around the halfway mark and that's more than I've ever done for a novel. Best of all, it's progressing easily. It's flowing.
I don't want to jinx it, so I won't say much more and I won't make any predictions of when I'll be able to complete the first full draft but I can definitely say that this will be the first full novel I will complete. Of that, I'm absolutely certain and it's a bloody good feeling.
