My Muse, My Thoughts: The Deadline Virgin

Hi Everyone:

Wanted to to share a post that appears over at Blogging In Black today. After going through my first deadline experience, I need a vacation - LOL!!

Enjoy!!
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I was a deadline virgin.

One day I knew my new writer’s barrier would be broken. “I know what’s going to happen,” I told myself a zillion times. At least I thought I understood the mechanics of it, anyway. Those who’d gone through the process before me had warned there would be pain. They told me it would be hot, sweaty, and exhausting. They put me on notice that I wouldn’t like it.

Well, they were right and wrong.

My time came. The story positioned itself over me, cradling my mind with sentence after sentence, until scenes transformed into chapters. There was still a long way to go before the consummation was complete. Inhaling sharply, I didn’t see how things would fit. Nor did I know if mating with this story was even possible. It was too late to stop now. I had no other choice but to accept this slow penetration. With a ferocity that would brook no delay, I hid from the outside world. My mind opened and my eyes settled on a tale that had consumed me for months. This story, my story, had completely engulfed me.

Perhaps I’d expected the months of writing without a deadline to ease the way, but in no way was I prepared for the invasion. Painfully, my body stretched to admit the finite number of days before this manuscript was due. The pressure was enormous from functioning on days where I’d gotten only four-hours of sleep, if that. The story premise flexed and characters exerted pressure I didn’t think possible. They pushed deep inside my creative space, inch, by tantalizing inch until they’d buried themselves to the hilt. My body resisted, but somehow, someway, a story broke past my ultra-sensitive writer’s flesh.

Yes, there was pain, but there was also so much more. The deadline process was scorching, raw, and primitive. But it swept me into the most powerful excitement I’ve ever experienced as a writer! Despite, the pain, I finally knew why I love the art of writing, understood how much my characters need me to give them life. Night after night we met until we landed on a one-way street called completion. My characters spoke and I listened. They gave and I took. And just when I thought I couldn’t bear the restraining power of my story any longer, it happened. Author and story surged and moved in perfect rhythm, dancing to a soul-stirring, heart-filling climax.

Am I ready for round two? Uh…give me a sec, and let me catch my breath.

Writing is a craft and placed in the hands of a writer who’s mastered their craft, an ordinary story transforms into an extraordinary work of art.

Until next time, stay well and be blessed