It’s Camp NaNo once again. Another chance for me to complete a novel. There is a new story line that I have created: a world decries Death’s efficiency and his is forced by the powers that be to take a sabbatical with his golden watch. The name of the story has changed a few times as has the POV but the plot has remained the same.
In my mind, the story has been flowing well. I love this idea and the “Hooded One” and yet for some reason the words will not come forth. Be it computer, iPad or paper I am squeezing for words that will not spring forward. The word count taunts me. First there are only 100 words, then 750. 11 days in and I have not even cracked 1,000 words.
This is not like me. Sure, I have had suffered through bouts of writer’s block but this is something completely different. It is as if there is something pulling on my mind, on my heart. Whatever that thing is, it is keeping me from writing.
Now I sit here working on this blog post. What started out as an exercise to unstick my creativity (first on paper now on the ipad) has turned into a work of its own. Because after writing only a few pages a woman sits in the seat before me.
Her royal lineage is evident not only in the clothes that she wears or the crown on her head but in the manner that she carries herself. I have to take a break from writing as her eyes command attention and respect.
“Who are you?”
“You know who I am. It’s really good to see you. It has been a very long time.”
I stare at her. There is some familiarity to her but I am not sure why.
“You have changed a great deal since we last saw each other. Work, relationships, life. There was a time when you would visit me for brief moments but it has been awhile since you dropped by and so I thought it would be best for me to drop in on you.”
Her voice sounds familiar but I still cannot place her.
“I am sorry but I don’t know…”
“You left me in the woods. I was running for my life and so was Sarah. Our people were in trouble and you abandoned us with the earth shaking around us.”
It was then that I remembered.
The Queen.
An amazingly strong female protagonist and the subject of my April 2015 Camp NaNo novel. I had set an incredible goal of 100,000 words and only reached 16,775. It was during this month that I would experience the beginning of the lay offs at my company. Plus I started to experience other issues in my life.
Fast forward two years later and I am now in a different place. Work is different my commute is different and my life is different. I try not to focus on different elements (there is a joke there for those who know me) of my life that bring me pain. Many of my writing projects from that time bring up difficult memories.
“Is it my fault that your life turned out this way? Should my story not be told because of your heartache?”
I could not respond to her. She could not understand.
“No, it was not my fault. Just as your heartache is not your fault. I do understand. How could I not? I came from you.”
That was the beginning of a long conversation. I must admit, it is strange to have a pep talk from someone I created. It was difficult for me to hold back the tears at certain points but she was firm and understanding. As our conversation came to a close I was overcome by an overwhelming sense of panic when I realized that her story was stored on my MacBook. The same MacBook with a destroyed hard drive.
“Maybe I can find it in my email. I think I send the PDF to myself at some point.”
I frantically began searching through my inbox.
The Queen smiled. “You have my story. No need to worry about hard drives.”
A search through my emails proved her correct. Not only did I send the file to myself but I had uploaded it to the cloud.
I looked up excited to tell her,
…but she was gone.
PhoebeJaneWrites 