Having begun Children’s Crusade…

Having begun writing The Children’s Crusade, it reminds me all over again the rush of writing, of really writing, of the ideas coming fast and furious, how to write the story, how it’s different from when you’re only planning, how the story seems to write itself…

This is how I define being a writer. It’s not just writing or even selling actual books (although that would certainly be nice, too), but the thrill of the experience, of tackling the project, of knowing there’s a long way to go, but I can get there because I know how to get there, and I know it’ll be worth it, even if no one reads it ever, because the story is the thing, and it takes on a life of its own…

So anyway, it’s early yet, three chapters in and hopefully two more later today, and only forty-five after that…But I’ve got this. These days I’m tackling shorter chapters. The last time I was really in novel-length mode I’d gotten into the rhythm of much longer chapters, and that worked then and this works now, they make sense in context, and it would be nice to write long chapters again but for now shorter is better…

Anyway, this is to say I feel happy about this, and since this one is a long one and it’s a completely original idea and I already know the whole thing but little things will keep popping up as necessary, and I want this done in forty days or so…I am locked into a zone. This isn’t always how these things play out or even need to or should, but when it happens and it looks very clear and true and doable…

So I’ve begun writing. And I will, once again, continue.