That’s a bit of an exaggeration. But not much. Sometimes I’m just not sure what’s going to happen next in a story.

Some writers say they get their best ideas in the shower or driving. I’ve gotten a few behind the wheel. But my best ideas come when I’m walking. Something about the rhythmic fwap-fwap of my heels on asphalt unlocks the right side of my brain where my ideas like to congregate in a small dark compartment. Then I drag them out into the sunlight to see if they still gleam as brightly as they did back in my brain.

Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.

I once got an idea for a plot twist in a dream. That’s the only time that’s ever happened to me and I loved it. I still think it’s the most brilliant idea I’ve ever had.

Solomon, considered the wisest man who ever lived said it well in Ecclesiastes 1:9: What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. 

Which makes writing stories seem a bit useless. If there’s nothing new under sun, what’s the point?

The point is, there’s always a new perspective to share or a new spin.

After all, aren’t West Side Story and Titantic retreads of Romeo and Juliet?

They’re the same but different.

Like many of my ideas.

I’ve had an idea incubating for over a year now. I’ve written a few chapters of an opening. It’s not ready to be birthed yet so I tucked it back inside. I’m wrapping up two projects and I think it’s time to pull that one out again and see if it’s ready to stretch and unfurl and allow me water and fertilize it and coax it into putting down roots.

Time will tell.