This morning when I sat down to write, I was greeted by this colour-coded tangle of sticky notes and felt compelled to take a picture of it. These are my “notes” (and I do use that term loosely) for the next twelve chapters of Date Square Dharma.
Yeah, it’s a mess, I can see that.
It is also a fairly accurate visual representation of what is going on in my head right now.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been traveling. Maybe it’s because the dog has been sick. Maybe it’s because my holidays are ending.
Or maybe it’s just a natural part of discovering the story that is going to be Date Square Dharma.
I wish I was one of those writers who, before they wrote a single word of chapter one, sat down and wrote a thorough and entertaining outline of the whole book with all the character development, plot twists and resolutions all neatly labelled in crisp little charts. And I suppose if I wrote something like murder mysteries I would have to do this because if you’re writing something with that kind of structure, I think you need to start out knowing exactly whodunnit or you’d never get anywhere.
On the other hand, lately readers have been telling me that one of the things they liked best about The Kitchen Sink Sutra was that it was fresh and surprising, that it kept defying their internal predictions and didn’t read like so many genre books do. I was deeply pleased to hear that. It’s not a book that fits neatly into a genre – “Grandmothers, Buddhists and Funny Dogs” is not a category on Amazon, (although I believe it should be.) I think this makes The Kitchen Sink Sutra a challenging book to market, but it also makes it a fun and refreshing book to read.
At any rate (and for better or for worse,) this is how I write. At the beginning, I have an idea of who the characters are and I have a broad sense of where they are going to end up but that whole middle part….it’s up for grabs. I tend to discover the story as I go, like an archaeologist who sifts through dirt, looking for treasure and clues and inspiration.
And so that’s where I am right now, in that up-for-grabs middle part, sifting through dirt (and sticky notes) searching for gems and good ideas.
So, yeah, my way of writing is messy – but then so is life.
And like life, it’s not just the destination that matters.
The excitement and fun of the trip is pretty important, too.
P.
P.S. Please send sticky notes! Preferably in soothing colours…