Writing is not something you choose to do. Writing chooses you.
What you decide to do with your gift is up to you.
I’ve always lived inside my head. I have a vivid imagination—not just for fiction but for living. I can picture myself on a plane to anywhere, anytime, even right this moment! I can read something in the news like the plane that crashed yesterday in Kazakhastan and imagine myself being a crew member when the plane went down. RIP 100 people.
I wander around my apartment in Istanbul—this time last year I was living in Mexico—and play out my next Code Raven Plot in my mind. Should I remain in Turkey, like The Istanbul Conspiracy I published on Christmas Day? The surprises in that book have me reeling! Maybe I will take CR 8 to Jerusalem, or Bangkok? Wait! But my next book will be another memoir!!
“Hah, you think you are in control, Lynda?” My cocky Muse.
“But…”
“No ‘but’s’ about it. You ended that political suspense book with too much drama. We have to know where this story will go. So sit down, and plot it out!”
“Wait. I really want to write another memoir! I traveled this year, I learned so much. I grew so much!! This memoir will be so filled with life and love. My fans are waiting.”
“Okay, we will compromise. You can work on both of them at the same time.”
“Muse! You are out of control!! First, you aged my young Alice by 7 years in this book! Then, you did the unspeakable! I mean, really, right before the wedding a terrorist attack! How could you?”
My Muse remained silent. I imagine she/he/God is smiling.
A quote comes to mind, “When man plans, God laughs.”
As a writer, I can plan all I want, but the magic happens when I let my Muse have her way with me.
Lynda Filler 