Connections

Here's how a writer's brain works, in my humble opinion. I'm not a pantser (someone who doesn't outline and writes by the seat of her pants), but I will admit that sometimes, my writing gets hijacked. In Eleven Seconds, the sequel to Bone Pendant Girls, teenagers hijacked the middle. I love you Seidon, Chary, Circe, and NoName, but this story is not about you, so gas up the car and the motorcycles and take a detour until I need you again. Eleven Seconds is about soldiers' last mission: creating eleven seconds of peace worldwide so that they can cross over. My world-building never included ESP, so I needed to find some way for Laurel (the key to peace) to communicate with my main character, Andi. Enter a favorite character from Bone Pendant Girls, and thank you Nancy Daversa for reminding me that lockets with photos can hold ghost memories.

A story in a writer's brain is like an intricate spider's web. If a writer loses her way, there is always another thread to take her where she needs to go. The problem is finding that thread among the other connections. A writing friend reminded me that writers must believe in those threads/connections in order to finish a story. So welcome back, Bennie. You and Laurel are about to become very good friends.