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I've always sucked at writing beginnings.

If they don't immediately come to me I get to stare at the Medusa blinker on the screen, syncing it up with my heartbeat and breath. Beginnings are hard. Once I have one though, it's on. It's like doing a ride-along with the character and their story - and the most fun and hardest work comes from what happens next. The only way to find out is to keep writing.

If you've read my Story Stew article, you'll know that I enjoy admiring the parallels between Life and Story. It makes me wonder what sort of story I'm writing with my life. Where I want it to go. And also, live and breathe with my senses and all the complications that go along with it. There's an alchemy to it when it comes to living a good story.

Now, I know tons of writers have already written reams of excellent advice along these lines. By all means, go read them! Writing isn't a competition. The best of it is Art and Poetry. The best of it could come from a terrible, rotten, no good day - or a whole string of em. It's the writer - the Liver - who continues to dedicate themselves to the adventure, and the Work of life that comes along with it.

For a long time, I never realized how much I was living and writing other people's stories, instead of my own. - Just like with writing a character, while their ways and challenges might come from others and the situations life throws at us, I believe it's by digging in and exploring that character - down to the bones - that we ultimately perceive and appreciate (or despise) their Character. Just like in life, people are exposed and illuminated by what they Do. Talk is cheap! (Words are cheap too)

Now, after all the loss and fresh beginning after wandering for a long time.

And not all who wander are lost.

-Love ya,

Anne