INCEPTION

The first step in any birth, of course, is inception.  For the writer, finding the beginning of a book is like finding love - warm and satisfying - a little scary but an adventure you would not trade for anything.  I think stories unfold first in your heart - you write what interests you - what you love. When the story progresses to your mind, that is actually when you begin to carry it, like a baby deeply inside of you. 

While it is extremely scary to share the news of your book (your baby), like being naked in the woods my friend Lisa likes to say, it is also one of the most rewarding things you will ever do.  At first you tell your family and closest friends, tentative and shy like, but as the months progress you become bolder and more confident.  See once you share the news, like sharing the news of a new baby on the way, the world expects you to produce. 

The idea grows larger in your mind each week, characters taking on lives of their own, directing you where they should go and say, and write, write, write.  Then rewrite.  You live on a diet of words, thoughts, sentences, paragraphs, chapters and worry all the time - is it good enough?  Have I prepared?  Have I done my homework?  Have I given the reader excitement, love, fear, satisfaction?  You worry like a pregnant woman worries about  her unborn baby.  And you write more.

Your book extends, like the growing belly, the story waking you in the middle of the night with kicking and movement.  Sometimes you jump up to jot down the perfect sentence, or dream of make believe people and scenes.  You carry your book, carefully, protectively, with the trepidation and excitement as it grows deeply inside of you.

Inception

Tina