Does Stephen King’s aging man bladder wake him up in the middle of the night and as he’s taking aim and wondering whether iodine and mushroom supplements will help him not need to pee at 3am hears something scratching his bathroom window and the thoughts of mushrooms and the mystery of the night lead him to his next big story idea that will no doubt give us nightmares and then rather than go back to bed, he shakes it off and pulls out his laptop and thus lays the foundation of his next best seller?

Does Colleen Hoover have trouble concentrating on her BFF’s rattling on about her last doctor appointment while they are enjoying their weekly coffee at the trendy shop on the river because she’s eavesdropping on the young couple two tables down that are whispering not-quiet-enough about how they’ll break things off with their spouses and run away to Southeast Asia together and as her friend drones on, she’s making notes on the embossed napkin that will later become her next best seller; cutting their coffee date short so she can run home and put her new world down on paper?

I hear things. I see things. Not hallucinations. I hear stories to be more specific. I see people. And I create entire worlds, I fashion relationships and I see the future. Beautiful and tumultuous. Overcoming and overwhelming. A little girl walking along the shoreline with a pink hat that matches her mum’s, holding a huge seashell that more likely was purchased at a giftshop than found on the beach… prompts a story. Where are they from? Do they always dress the same? Who is the father? How old is she? Does she have siblings? What is she scared of? Is the mother loving? Where do they go after the beach?

Observation is the best ingredient of creating a beautiful and enjoyable story. Persistence is the best ingredient of finishing that story. WHY is persistence so hard?? I wonder how many unfinished stories, partial manuscripts, plots-on-a-napkin King or Hoover have? They’ve been writing longer than I have, but my box is quite full of unfinished work.

How to be a successful writer: WRITE. Just WRITE. The joy and bane of my existence.