I hate this part of the writing process. Hate it. When I haven’t gotten into any kind of flow yet and every word feels forced. When I’m sure everything I’ve written so far is terrible.

I’m taking part in a little challenge over on the kindleboards. A bunch of authors are trying to get to 60k words during the month of February. This is like NaNoWriMo on steroids. But hey, NaNo turned out really good for me (almost 5,000 people have downloaded my NaNo novel, Three Girls and a Leading Man, in the three and half weeks it has been available!) so I’m hoping this will have a similar result on my productivity. But so far, it’s been rough.

I keep reminding myself that this is the first novel I have written that isn’t about Annie, Ginny and Jen. And it took me a while to really get to know those characters. It’s only normal that I would have a bit of a rough time getting used to a whole new set of people. They don’t feel like friends yet. And it’s really hard for me to write about people who don’t feel like friends.

At the end of my writing session tonight, I had a bit of a brainwave. If I follow it through it will take this story in a different direction. I think that might be a good thing. It will take some thinking about, but maybe this is that moment where things start to take shape.

And that is my favorite part of the writing process. That almost magical moment where it all just clicks in my brain. When I know who these characters are, what they are doing, and where they’re all going to end up. Where does that come from, that certainty in how things will go? I have no idea, but I’m addicted to that feeling. It’s the reason I keep writing, even when things aren’t working. Even when I’m tired after work and all I want to do is lay on the couch and watch Vampire Diaries. It’s the reason I stay up way too late writing despite needing to be up early. I’m always in search of that elusive, magic moment.

Will the brainwave tonight result in that magic? I’m not sure. But I do know that if it doesn’t, I’ll keep writing until I find it. It’s what I do.