Kaleidscoping Gypsy Cowboy Writer Tangling With Characters Talking At Him From All Directions...

... Hmmmm... isn't that sort of the definition of a fella bein' a Schizo? I mean a guy "hears voices" talking to him... that nobody else can hear? :-P

... and the neighbors can likely hear him through the screen door sayin'; "wait! wait! slow down"... as the keyboard rattles as his fingers bang away... "ok... I'm ready now... keep goin'..."  ... buuuuuut those neighbors are knowin' the old fool is sittin' in there by his lonesome?

Yeah... so...

I Moved to the Pima County fairgrounds a few days back... to provide shelter for during the continuing annual gem and mineral show buying trip. Since that stuff long past lost its shine for me... the town of Tucson has small attraction as well... and the rigs in the fairgrounds are wedged in belly to butt with Vaseline and crow bars... I've been brushed up inside with Brenn Hill crooning on the Ipod and my tiny lil' brain rattling around inside a mostly empty brain pan...

After publishing my fifth Novel, The Horsemen I was planning on taking a few days off to cool out. Readers are collecting copies of that book at what's a nice rate for me and my first review has come in... and a Five star too. :) oh yes... It is a purty simple thing to inflate the ego of a puss gut mountain cowboy!

So... even though I was taking a few days off... ideas started tickling unbidden so I couldn't help but start tinkering with my notebooks__ warming up for the next project.

One, #4 in the Taylor series that will come along behind "The Horsemen" is titled "Kincaid" and the other the long delayed third volume in the Jensen series; "A Cruel Wind" (Which is only a working title - Too many already published with that moniker)

I keep a composition notebook for each book I write. All the ideas, clips, scenes and quotes that come to me while I'm out and about doing other things get copied down in there. It's as far as I go toward any sort of planning of a story. Those notebooks are like jumbled up clips of a movie taken out of all context... just flashes in a kaleidoscope.

Mostly when I sit down to write I only have a very fuzzy starting point from where I just saddle up and follow along copying down the events as they unfold.

The stories truly do get told to me by the characters and I just relay 'em to my readers. I hear voices... they speak to me and I truly work like one of those court recorders just putting down the words.

Well... there I sat all cabin fevered last week, in the mud of Snyder Hill, while Tucson got washed out with nigh on to 48 hours of rain... drinking too much coffee and doodling down kaleidoscope flashes into those notebooks...

Now... about a year or more ago I attempted to deliberately strike off and write on two stories at the same time. I've had many people tell me they are impatient and I write too slow. :-P

My thinking was that one story might could feed off the other... or ... if one hit a spot with failing inspiration I could take off with the other.

Yeah... good idea that crashed and burned for lots of reasons. Anyway... I gave it up.

Now... In sorting through the ideas for the coming Taylor book... a few things occurred to me regarding the Jensen book and I scribbled 'em down... which led me to an idea for the OTHER story... Back and forth it went... one thing after another soon gained momentum like a truck going down hill with no brakes.

The upshot of all THAT is... a  New manuscript got opened up on the laptop for each story...

... and now, quite unintentionally, I find myself torn between the two Tales. Writing on one flashes keep coming for the other which I have to stop and scribble down...

Mornings one book is on the screen... afternoons the other... and jumping back and forth between notebooks like a crackhead squirrel ALL day... 

Yeah.... You've heard the old joke about How do you drive a moron crazy? ... Ya put him in a round room and tell him there's a quarter in the corner... so... spin spin spin I go...

Both stories have fleshed out in my head much farther along their trails than any have ever before. The urge to carve them out is keeping me at the keyboard for hours and hours to see how it all unfolds.

Funny thing this Writing game... It seems akin to being a gypsy in many ways... You move along when the urge pushes... and sit still when fatigue says sit.

Brian