Not Write

Why is it that with the best of plans for writing time something gets in the way?

I  got everything done this morning for the event our business is putting on tonight.  And then the afternoon was going to be all mine to spend with Casey.  I left her in the middle of conversation when I stopped working the other day.  In the meantime another character showed up.  Actually he'd been in the shadows but I hadn't realized he was there.

I guess that sounds kind of crazy so let me explain.  In this Yarn Retreat mystery, there is another retreat going on at the same time.  It happens to be a mindful weekend that was arranged by Kevin St. John, the manager of Vista Del Mar.  I knew that Kevin wouldn't be the one who actually facilitated the workshops so there had to be someone else.  I just didn't think about who it was until Sky Brooks showed up in his bare feet, yoga leggings and pony tail.

When I rewrite I will thread him through the book, for now I'm writing as if he's been in the story all along.  I was thrilled when he showed up in my mind since I see now he was definitely a missing link.

It probably does sound strange when I talk about a character showing up unexpectedly, but that is the thing about writing.  Even if you have a plan, characters and events seem to present themselves.  I hear their voice and see them - but not in the kind of way that I think they're real. 

The surprises are probably the most fun.  Then I started thinking about how the other characters would respond to Sky, whose real name is Bob and before he opened the yoga and Pilates studio in Cadbury by the Sea, California, he was a banker in San Francisco.

I started this talking about the writing time that didn't happen.  Just as I was about to settle in I got tapped to help with two problems that couldn't be put off, along with discovering that someone broke a CFL bulb in the garage.  I needed to research  how to clean it up.   And the next thing I knew it was almost time to go.  And then I figured out the only writing I was going to get done was this.

But at least I got myself excited about the story.