Even in the midst of chaos, there is writing....

I haven't done a lot of writing-for-pleasure this month. I started a new job career and have had many changes occurring in my personal life, so other things have taken priority. And yet, even as busy as I've been, I can't stop thinking about the coffee house book.

The good news is that after Labor Day weekend, things will be a little different, and I'll actually have time to make time for the collection.

I have been working on the coffee house book a little, here and there, but only moments at a time, and just enough to remind me that I do need to write it, and the stories will never leave me alone until I do.

Examples of my writing task lists

I have a list of notes and tasks that I need to do for the collection. I still have a lot of background work to do for the collection. I need to do some research into a few areas so I feel a little more confident writing about them. More importantly, I haven't finished the character biographies for the coffee house book (or the rest of the town), so that's the first priority. My coffee house book outline is solid, so once the background work is done, I'll be ready for the first draft. And I know a few people who will be eager to read a draft when it's ready.

I wish I could start writing the chapters or the biographies I have, but this collection just doesn't work that way. The characters in the coffee house book are interwoven with each other, and with the characters in the other books. I have to have a good foundation for that before I start writing.

I have started stories that didn't get finished. I've started novels that didn't get finished. And those characters were content in the half-scribblings I did for them, storing the pages away in a folder or a drawer. But these characters are different. The collection is different. The coffee house book has been following me around since 2004, and no matter what else I work on, or where else my writing takes me, the coffee house characters are there, begging to be written. And now I can finally tell their stories.