Alice in Writing Land

Writing is an odd business. Sitting down alone in a quiet room with pencil and paper, or at the kitchen table with a laptop, or on a commuter train with a notebook, you go off into your wondrous world of imagination, and write down the scenes. And, for a time, this land of make-believe becomes real, and everything in the "real" world becomes fodder for that "other world."

I pass a woman wearing a large red sun hat. She carries a small white dog who also wears a red sun hat. What an intriguing character for my book! I wonder what she eats for breakfast. I think of names for the dog.

I see an ancient statue in a park and think of a mysterious meeting scene between two bitter enemies.

I hear the gentle sloshing of waves on a New England beach and conjure an entire world of fishing villages, a man lost at sea, and his woman cooking lobster bisque as she waits for his return.

It's all about storytelling. And for anyone who writes, it's all about falling down that rabbit hole.