The Beginnings of My Next Writing Project

Twenty-five hours ago, I had an idea for a novel--the kind of novel I could see perfectly in my head.  Here's how I described it in a Facebook post: 

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It will be a political thriller of sorts, a sort of "Handmaid's Tale" meets a modern underground railroad kind of narrative arc mixed in with some Octavia Butler's "Parable of the Sower." It may sound like I'm being sardonic, but I'm not.

Here's the first line: "When the president with despotic ambitions was sworn in, my dead husband accidentally started a meme: 'Who will be our Dietrich Boenhoeffer?'"

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Last night, I did use that first line, and I kept going.  Before I shut down the computer for the night, I wrote this Facebook post:  "I have written 893 words of my apocalyptic/political thriller novel. A travel ban is in place, but instead of keeping people out, it restricts them to their houses. But the government has paid off their mortgages and insurance, so a grateful nation praised the Despot."

And this morning, I kept going.  I now have 1526 words.  My plan is to write a bit each day.  It will be too easy to lose the narrative thread and the momentum if I don't return to this project each day.

I have always thought of myself as being a not-good reviser, so I often want to have it all in my head before I start.  This time, I'm resisting this approach.  Let me write a rambling, sprawling, messy thing and figure out what to do with it later.

Here's my morning Facebook post:  "Morning word count: another 633 words for the apocalyptic political thriller that I'm writing. The main character is named Dorothy/Dori/Thea, and her spouse is named Will. Have fun, English majors!"

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In the spirit of full disclosure, I feel that I need to admit that I decided to skip my morning walk to keep writing.  In some ways, that's delightful.  In other ways, it describes my life right now:  just not enough time to do everything I want/need to do.

Also in the spirit of full disclosure:  I had planned to write a poem this morning, but I didn't.  I thought I might not blog this morning because I had spent time writing fiction, but I did blog.

And now it's time for a long day--we've got graduation tonight.  But in between, lunch with my former student writer friend.  And since I won't eat dinner, I can eat what I want at the sushi/Chinese buffet.