Getting a Bonus

It’s funny how things turn out . I am working ona proposal for something new. It used to be you had the first page to grab a reader or in this case editor, but now it is really down to the first paragraph or even the first line. A proposal is made up of a synopsis and the first fifty pages. I find that trying too hard doesn’t work well for me, so I just moved on from the beginning figuring something would turn up.

It was all put on the backburner earlier this week when I went with my son to do my job as support in our financial seminar business. There was a bonus involved. The office we were working out of is next to a big shopping mall and there is a Barnes & Noble. Ever since the two Barnes & Nobles near me closed, going to the bookstore has become a treat. During some down time I went to the bookstore with the idea of picking up something to read. The last time I was there I picked up a Mary Kay Andrews book on the bargain hardcover table. It was the first book of hers I’d read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went back to the same display table to see what they had. There were several books I considered and I read the beginnings of all of them. In the end, I left empty handed, or did I?

Later when I was thinking about the proposal, I thought back to my bookstore trip and the beginnings I’d read. I didn’t remember them word for word, but I did remember the overview of them. And I had a aha moment about what I was working on and a better beginning for my story popped into my mind.

I had looked at my book shopping as time off from writing, but I am beginning to realize there is no time off. My mind is always working.