Imagination

I figured something out the other day. Using your imagination is a skill that takes a lot of practise. I remember very clearly all the worlds I used to play in when I was a kid, transforming my back yard into a farm, a jungle, a battlefield. I remember all the little stories I used to make up for whatever character I was in my make-believe games.

And then I lost it. Everyone says that you lose it sometime around puberty; as you grow up your imagination disappears. But it doesn't. Because I found it again this week. That feeling of all the possibilities in the world flooding the mind returned to me. The idea that if something doesn't work out one way, I can try it a million other ways until I find the perfect piece to complete my puzzle.

All it took was a red bull and two cups of coffee in the space of two hours, for my mind to let go of the fear of doing something wrong.

I wanted to give up. I'd tried rewriting this opening chapter three times, but they just weren't good enough. I figured maybe typing all of it up would help me see it all clearly. I'm so glad I typed it up.

Turns out that, though each of my three attempts at writing that opening chapter were average at best on their own, combined they make the chapter I've been imagining in my head since last august. Everything I needed was in my head the whole time. I just needed to stop criticising myself to two seconds for not seeing it immediately and look harder.

This whole week I've felt that the character of Nick has been hiding something from me. Like there was some secret about him that I didn't know. This morning it came to me, through an argument with myself over the use of the word "flitted". Cue the revelation of a huge secret and great plot material.

I'm loving this shit at the moment.

P.S Apparently I can't type the word 'into' any more