All the ideas we have

A new character came to me. This used to happen to me a lot, but not so much since I’ve started sending out manuscripts and sharing all the other characters I’ve written in the past.

I saw a name written down and suddenly he started to talk to me. I could picture what he was like – fair haired, quiet, a little moody. It’s all terribly inconvenient though. Because a character showing up is how I start writing a book and writing a book is something I simply do not have time for at the moment. So I’m making a little shelf and I’m going to sit him on it, to wait.

The inspiring view of King's Cross St. Pancras
from Central Saint Martins

Where there is one more will soon follow. It’s an inevitability. One by one I’ll line them up together, where they can wait for me to find a plot for them to live in. Perhaps in a few months, or perhaps in November, for NaNoWriMo, but not just yet. He’s there and with him are ideas and ideas are fuel for my creativity, so he won’t be ignored or forgotten.

He’s not alone of course. His shelf sits above a chest full of costumes I will one day create which is next to two giant sculptures I have planned. Hanging by their laces from hooks on the wall are shoes I will paint and in a filing cabinet are the frames of animations I will draw. All of them are waiting for their moment.

Right now the moment belongs to a book called ‘Wise at Any Age’, which I’ve been working on for three years. It belongs to three edited young adult fiction manuscripts which I continue to submit to agents. It belongs to psychology studies and design courses and freelancing.

When these things are done they will join the list of accomplishments: The shoes I have painted, the animations I have done, the places I’ve travelled, the books I’ve read, the paintings I’ve brushed, the facts I’ve learned, and all the wonderful discoveries I’ve made.

This is how it should be because these are the things a life is made up of.