The human brain is the most complex, useful, and wonderful gadget ever invented. It is the only device I can think of that actually works better while it is shut off.
It certainly is a handy-dandy little problem solver. And this whole dream-a-solution thing is amazing, simply amazing.
I finished Gray Zone last year, but I knew it needed something. I wracked my brain for ideas, but nothing would come to me. I was stuck.
So I put Gray Zone aside and pursued a new degree.
About halfway through the program Gray Zone shoved its way from the back of my brain, where it was supposed to be relaxing at my mind spa, and demanded that I spend some time fixing it.
But I didn’t have time. The MFA program was too intense.
So Gray Zone retreated with a huff back to the mind spa to sulk.
I finished my degree program last month and immediately pulled out Gray Zone. There was no further reason for the little book to sulk, I was ready and willing to give it all the attention it could ever want.
So I skimmed through it, waiting for that wondrous flash of brilliance I just knew would come.
Nothing.
I pulled out a piece of paper and tried to create an outline of the book, thinking that it would make it easier for me to see the changes that needed to be made.
Nothing.
I opened Final Draft. If I put the book in screenplay format, the structure would be easy to see, and any problems would jump out at me like a zombie in a haunted house.
Gray Zone, still in a snit, wouldn’t let me write down even a single word. I guess it was still ticked that it had been put aside for over a year.
Every day since I’ve frustrated myself to distraction, trying to come up with a wonderful idea, or a good idea, or even an okay idea.
But nothing.
Until finally, I gave up. I told Gray Zone I was having nothing else to do with it and I put it out of my mind.
And that was when that wonderful device that is the human brain took over. Without any effort on my part I knew the answer to my problem. It just popped into my head, unasked.
I dreamt the answer. And it is a good one!
I can’t wait to start writing!