Every writer needs a Linda.

When I went walking yesterday I had no clear idea what I was going to write for Fairy Punk.

I did have a mood I wanted to evoke though. Sometimes that can be enough.

This amazing thing happens when I walk. I'm going along, not an idea in my head, and then the visualizations and/or words start popping up, one by one. Just out of thin air.

Not sure how that happens. It's a miracle.

So anyway, the ideas started flowing. Up to now, in each of the quest chapters I've tried to find an interesting location, look for the Fairy creatures I can use, both good and bad, and have a big scene. This time I couldn't think of a good Fairy to save them, then decided that was a good thing--let the characters save themselves for once.

So I wrote the chapter and it kept going and I realized I had two chapters. The second chapter went in an unexpected direction (always a good thing) and also brought back an earlier character I'd been neglecting, tying the beginning and the end together (always a good thing.)

I haven't written this chapter yet, but I've got it worked out. It's nice.

I read the chapter I wrote to Linda last night and she said, "You are really getting good. You're just getting better and better at creating evocative scenes. I can really see it and feel it."

Every writer needs a Linda.

Anyway, it's encouraging to get a burst of inspiration this late in the book. I still have one more quest chapter before I get my Fellowship to New York. I'll be a good 90K words by then, with the concluding chapters yet to write, so this is going to be a bigger than normal book for me.

Also taking longer--probably a month longer than usual, but it's not as if I'm falling behind.