A friend recommended I read Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Turns out the book was already sitting in my Kindle library, in my digital TBR stack: books To-Be-Read at some future date, most often defined as ‘someday.’ Well, ‘someday’ arrived unexpectedly with that recommendation, as I finally pulled up Big Magic and started to read.

And I’m so glad I did!

The book gave me words to describe something I’ve been feeling ever since my muse took over in April and I started writing.

Oh. Yes. I’m actively writing now, and I don’t mean blog posts like this one. I am in the middle of drafting a young adult fantasy trilogy, the threads of which have lived within ever since I wrote a short story for my Fantasy In Literature course in college, more years ago than I care to count. I think Dr. Glover gave me a B on my story, with a comment that it needed to go further. Years after that I converted the original story into a longer story, outlined but never fully completed. Dr. Glover would have given that story the same grade and the same comment – where is it going?

Today, it has evolved into a three-book arc, complete with its own world, history, legends, character backstories… well, you get the idea. I wish Dr. Glover could see it now!

It’s as though this particular seed was planted eons ago, and now, in my retirement, I have finally found the time and space to help it grow. It has become a tree, with roots and a sturdy trunk and branches reaching for the sky.

Gilbert, in her book, says that ideas and inspiration have a way of finding someone who is ready to work with them. I suspect this one has been lingering, hovering on the edges of my attention, until I ultimately accepted it. Now, it’s as though the flood of inspiration is never-ending. I’ll go for a walk, and before I’m done I’m anxious to get back to my laptop, or my notebook, to capture the ideas before they float away. I’ll wake in the middle of the night with the next piece of the story ready to go and huddle under the blankets, typing it into an app on my phone before it slips away. Even while writing, I’ll have a moment of “ooh! what if…?” and suddenly I’m off on a tangent of an idea for a character backstory.

Truly, the Dragonbonded of Cyfina have a life of their own. Right now I’m simply trying to keep up. I can’t wait until they’re ready to meet you.