Going back maybe a year-and-a-half now…possibly even two years…I’ve had an idea.

Often this happens and I’ll talk myself out of it, convince myself it’s not a very good idea, and I’ll move on.

But ever since this idea came into my brain I haven’t been able to shake it.

In fact, I really like it.

And after months upon months of working out the minutiae - character names, timelines, other details that were tangential to the overall story but I felt were important to nail down before I was able to tell the story that’s been growing in my brain for a while - I’m ready to write.

I’ve been writing, in fact. Not a lot, but way more than I had previously.

So I need to turn it into a goal - one of the big ones for 2025, and one of the reasons I need these creative writing juices flowing for a while here: By the end of 2025 I need to finish the draft of this book.

And, actually, if at all possible, well before then.

I think once I get going with the story it won’t take all that long to draft.

And that’s the key thing - I just need to produce a draft. It’s hard for me to not produce a polished product the first time through.

But like I told so many students as I guided them through their writing for a decade - just get the words out and worry about everything else later.

So that’s what I’m doing - a really rough draft. I don’t know if I’ll stick with the format in which I’m writing the book, I don’t know if there are parts of the overall plot that will end up changing, I don’t know if the character names I’ve thought about for so long will change…but I do know that I am going to try to tell the story I want to tell from beginning to end and then once that happens I’ll worry about all the rest.

I get really precious about these ideas and I am hesitant to share a lot about them. I don’t know, maybe I just don’t trust people and maybe I think too highly of my ideas - I’m afraid if I talk about what the book is about someone will take my idea and do a better job with it than I could have.

So until I finish this draft, the idea stays locked up in my head. Sorry, if you were hoping for more of a synopsis here.

But once that draft gets done, who knows, maybe you’ll be a beta reader.

All that is down the line.

I have no daily word count goals, no page goal - I just try to write in between my assignments or whenever something comes to me and I try to take advantage of the creative inspiration.

And I’ll keep doing that until the draft is done.

Thanks for helping to keep me accountable.