There are so many times after a writing frenzy (which all my first drafts are), when my pen leaves a smudge of words to read, and I wonder, “Who wrote this stuff – couldn’t have been me?”

Writing can be a mystical experience, for certain, except for the occasional research my sort of writing requires. At those times I am especially intentional, and I become the seeker of words rather than the words seeming to seek me. But I must add a disclaimer. Sometimes the channeling, or whatever, hiccups in my head like a car engine trying to ignite. I pause with empty spaces, tapping my pen while trying to divine the ‘perfect’ words. Urr, urr, urr my thoughts will try to connect – stall – I’ll try again, urr, urr, urr – and just before my battery dims, the words connect and jumpstart with a pleasing hum and empower me to move forward.

My shower is also a place for inspiration – this is true for many writers/authors. Is it all that nakedness? And often, I literally jump out of bed (throw on a robe because of all that nakedness again), because while sleeping, an idea has jumped into my head.

Though I live many of the experiences you mentioned, you also know firsthand that the process is a lot of hard word and takes a lot of determination, guts, discipline and thank-yous to the universe when the assignment, sentence, paragraph, or synopsis is imbued with someone’s misconceived notion of romance – it ain’t romantic at all, but it is satisfying with a different brand of passion and I say we are the fortunate ones.

So while I toil and rant and rave and read rejections as though they were Dear John letters, the windfall of misconceived romance disguises my hard work and tricks some people into a harmless deception of their own making. Heck, sometimes I romance the notion of a paycheck, insurance benefits and stock options. I say let them dream. I have my own dreams rapt in words.

Oh, and by the way, I am a writer and an author. In my crumpled ordinary Webster’s, the two words define each other.

O.K. Here’s another possibility. You conceive an idea for a story (any length). Put it into a sentence. A paragraph. A synopsis. Outline it. It sounds good. Let it flow. If the process balks at any point, maybe it isn’t such a good idea. You can always back up and try again or move on to something more productive.