Spagetti days...

...throwing ideas against the wall until something sticks...

In full-on brainstorming mode the past couple of days. I was on vacation last week and managed to move the story ahead but it has a giant hole... a giant important hole that effects the rest of the story. I toyed with putting in a sentence to fluff out later but it just wouldn't do.

It couldn't do. Too many ripples based on what I decide.

So I am deciding now. After two days: it's a glimmer of potential. that's all. It's the barest of sketches. not even that. It's hard to come up with this piece. But it's crucial. And if it's done right... wow. That would be awesome.

Not sure if it's possible but that's what always happens when I'm staring at the blank, non-yielding wall.

But I know the trick.

You show up.
You stare at your cursor.
You write anything and absolutely everything. You make no judgements.
Every so often you re-read because typically something sparks a new idea/a new direction.
Typos are amazing jumping off points. Keep everything. You never know what hides beneath.

Eventually something sticks. Something leaps you forward in a new and crazy direction where everything CLICKS and you think "why didn't I think of that before? It's so obvious!"

But it all starts with letting your hands type freely whatever comes to mind.
Oh, and showing up. Nothing happens if you don't show up. You stay stuck. I'm all for a break, a recharge period where you don't think about it and then when you show up again, it's suddenly clear. That definitely happens. But you have to balance it. Because I've found it happens so much faster when you show up too.