The Scrap Heap

Some stories write themselves.  Others are like giving birth.  They are a labor of love.  It's painful during the process, but the end result is beautiful.  Still others are worse than a trip to the dentist for a root canal.  That is when you sometimes come to the realization that the project you were enthralled with a few weeks ago, is ready for the scrap heap.

I have always been interested in travel, especially anything involving Europe.  I love to read books depicting settings in far away places and enjoy blogs along those lines as well.  It's funny considering I was in college before I actually left the tri-state area and flew on an airplane.  I was married when I got a passport and ventured out of the country.  My husband and I spent ten days in London and Paris.  It boggles my mind to this day that I was that close to Ireland and still didn't make it.

Last summer after reading a travel related blog, I got a great idea for a new manuscript.  I even came up with the title, TRAVELS AND TRIBULATIONS.  Now since the plot that I had in mind was way outside of my comfort zone, I knew that I needed to do some research.  I conducted some interviews with travel bloggers, people who worked in the industry, friends who have been abroad, and did a lot of reading on European destinations.  With my middle one entering school full-time, I was all set to get to work when September rolled around.

However, when I sat down to begin, the writing stalled worse than a traffic jam on the Garden State Parkway during a summertime Friday.  No matter how hard I tried, the words just would not flow.  I worried that I had lost it.  In desperation, I shelved it for a few weeks and went back to give SECRETS, LIES, AND TRASH another once over. 

When I returned to it and I was still blocked, I begrudgingly had to admit I had bitten off more than I could chew and put it away permanently.  I hated to do it because I put so much time and effort into the research, but the simple fact was the idea didn't work.  It wasn't a total loss though because this was where my new character, Rainer Donovan came from.  She didn't work in TRAVELS AND TRIBULATIONS, but she came into her own in HOLMES AND HANDCUFFS. 

I know there is a novel in Rainer yet.  I just haven't found the right venue for her, but I will.  The moral here is that not every idea you have is going to turn into a hot page-turner.  Some do, but many do not.  Don't hit the delete button.  The research I did may come in handy on another story or perhaps a free-lance article.  You never know and that is one of the joys of writing.  There's always another blank page and the thrill of it is that you never know quite where that journey is going to take you.  So enjoy the ride.