Heron There & Everywhere

No, not the squirrel and not photography. Anyone who knows me knows I’ve loved squirrels for quite some time now. This is just my buddy eating her peanut snack yesterday while I stood out on the front porch, trying to catch a glimpse of the Blue Angels from my house. Unfortunately, all I could manage was one really far away shot as they looped around to make another pass over the airport. They don’t fly directly over my house apparently.

No, my newest obsession has become writing. After attending my first writers’ group meeting, I have been working on my novel. I have a pretty good idea for my book, and I’ve been just running with it. I was worried about where I was going though and what I would do when I ran out of steam. I have read suggestions about creating an outline. Outlines don’t work all that well for me; they never help me figure out what to write next. When forced to create an outline for school projects, I’d usually write the piece first and then create an outline after the fact. This morning I read an article that suggested I write the ending of the book first. What a great idea!

I sat down today and wrote most of the LAST chapter of my book. I was almost in tears as I wrote it – except I was smiling on the inside too much. It was such a relief to finally have it mapped out. It suddenly became so clear to me where I wanted to take the storyline. NOW I know where I am going, and I can continue writing the beginning and middle parts, knowing the destination that I have in mind. I can tweak things as I go along, but I’m happy with what I’ve decided.

I still have a children’s book starring the squirrels in mind, too. I wrote that one a couple of years back and never finished it. It’s just waiting for me to pick it back up again. Soon, my little squirrelly friends.