My stepmom just quit her teaching job to write full time. I am so proud of her for taking an opportunity to fulfill a life-long dream. She’s writing children’s books and also some adult fiction. We had a long conversation about writing, characters, the stories she is working on, and writing in general.

Non-writers do not understand about characters. In order to make a character seem alive to a reader, the writer has to live inside that character for the duration of the writing process. The characters take on a life of their own. They do not leave you alone until you have told their stories.

Some times a particular situation will spark an idea. That idea with create the background or situation for a character. And then the character emerges. Slowly at first, and then gaining more insights and strength. Characters can be very persistent: telling their stories in dreams, oddly popping out in conversations like Freudian slips.

Writers are not nuts. We just have these characters… May the Quill Wand inspire.

Isis seemed like a completely different horse this evening. She was perky and interested in everything. She has been getting into things too. Since she started back on grain, she has apparently been throwing the halters off of the walls. Anything within her reach is not safe. That’s my girl!

She just seemed so much livelier tonight. The grain is really making a difference. So far, she is also eating the corn oil. We will see how it goes.