Every time I sit down at my computer to begin the next phase of my novel, I realize how blessed I am. When I begin my work, my characters show up to tell me their stories, to open the door into their world so that I can step into it with them, and hopefully bring my readers with me.
It is a privilege to do this work, and a joy to watch as a new world unfolds before me. I feel almost as Michelangelo did when he said that the sculpture exists already beneath the marble, and he was the one to free it. I am no Michelangelo, but I think every creative person knows a shadow of what he means. The work as it is meant to be born lurks in the darkness just beyond our reach, whether a piece of sculpture, a painting, or a novel. As a novelist, as I begin to give myself over to the work and to the story the characters want told, the novel begins to unfold before me almost like magic.
I do not mean to say that it is easy and effortless and that birds are always singing and that rainbows light my path. Sometimes it is dark where I’m walking…sometimes the Cave is a lonely place. But always, no matter how long it takes to bring a novel into the Light, the book and the journey to create it is a blessing.
You are a blessing, Christy.
Mitchell, so are you, and your lovely novel.