We all know what it’s like.

You have an inkling of an idea. Just the slightest hint of what something might become, what it could be come.  We’re at point A, but point B is FAR away.  The road to it is winding and crazy and we’re not sure how to get there.

We get mired down in details. Questions. Plots. Characters. Devices.

The How’s, What’s, Where’s, When’s, Why’s and Who’s.

We get stuck.

I had a story idea. A small little niggle.  It had developed into two characters. I had the basics of who they were. Their names, their brief back story.  Then I got stuck. Where was I going with it?  How would it develop?  I knew a basic conflict, but in the end it didn’t seem enough. I needed more.

I set it aside. I worked on other things totally un-writing related. I even left my Jane Doe series to linger on the vine (I have out queries/contest submissions, book 3 is started, moving slowly, I’m not in a huge rush).  I pulled out knitting to distract me. Watched TV to distract me.

Then for some reason I kept getting stuck on the location. I knew what state I wanted it in. The approximate year. For some reason my muse wanted me to find out WHERE.  I didn’t understand why I was stuck on this detail, but I was.

Then it happened.

By researching the WHERE, by studying the state I planned to set this in. By learning the history of the land I’d chosen the story formed before my eyes.

The light bulb clicked on and now my story was forming.

Train to Nowhere was getting somewhere.

So now I officially have my new story idea. I’ve been fleshing out some details, working on some characters.  I’m letting it continue to stew a little. I am eager to write this story – but I also want to finish my Jane Doe series, because it feels wrong to leave it ‘unfinished’ (Yes, I have a first draft complete, but it’s a very weak outline that I want to make sure is properly plumped and finished).

So, I continue on.  I also have a couple of other little ideas starting to form, but nothing solid yet.

In the mean time – my husband is writing now too.  I have to say I’m jealous – so far I love what I’ve read from him.

Off to ponder the word of the week for 100 words. Hoping I can get something good for it. It’s a powerful word.