I didn't get to sleep until nearly 3:00.
Another time that I became this excited, when it came to writing my fiction, was when I was working on Songsaengnim, and I came up with the idea that explained how Roland found himself in Korea in the first place.
When I get excited about writing, I have to see my idea through, and this is the reason why I went to bed on Saturday night but didn't get to sleep until nearly 3 am. I lay in bed with so many thoughts in my head that I got out of bed, grabbed a notebook and pen, and started writing out my ideas—shaping them, making them make sense.
On the previous Friday morning, as I drove to Toronto with DW and Kid 1, I came up with an idea for a crime novel. That is to say, I thought I'd like to try my hand at a murder mystery. By the time we reached the hotel, all I had was that a young woman would be found floating in the Rideau River, just downstream from the Vimy Memorial Bridge.
As I drove home, that Sunday, I thought more about the story. Who was this woman? Why was she killed? I didn't have much of an idea by the time we got home, other than the police detective being a man in his 50s, who was returning to duty after a brief illness, his doctor clearing him to resume his normal activities. He was a curmudgeony man but an honest cop.
He would be paired with a young detective who was just promoted to her position, and this murder would be her first case. But that was all I had as of last Sunday evening.
Last week was a bit distracting, to put it mildly, after I learned that I was being laid off from work. I still had a couple of documents that I wanted to finish up, so I focused on them during business hours (my last official day with the company is this Friday, but I'm going to use a couple of days of leftover vacation from last year, and so today, Monday, March 24, is my last day of work).
In the evenings, I was emotionally exhausted and certainly in no mood to think about my storyline.
On Saturday, DW and I started the day by going to Mud Lake for a hike and to possibly capture photos of the birds in the area. From there, we did some shopping and ran some errands. But whenever we were in the car, I'd talk about my crime story.
I knew who the victim was, I knew other people surrounding her life, and I had possible motives for her murder. I had suspects but not the actual killer.
While we drove, we had CBC Radio One switched on, as we always do on Saturdays. And while I had thoughts of my story in my head, there was something that was mentioned on one of the shows that gave me a great idea.
An idea for a major plot twist.
Once we were home and had many of our chores out of the way, I sat and thought of the new idea I had, playing with it in my head. For hours, I barely moved from our family-room sofa, and finally, I went to bed.
But I was not tired and I could not sleep.
I got out of bed, grabbed a notebook and pen, and started writing. I had names. I had timelines. I had motives. I had almost the entire novel, outlined and down on paper.
I even had a working title, Dark Water, though I'll likely change it. It doesn't fit the full scope of the story.
It was past 2:30, so I closed the notebook, turned out my light, and tried to push the story out of my head. I was so happy, and finally drifted off within a half hour.
Yesterday, I talked through my ideas and storyline with DW. She had lots of questions, particularly around the motive for the killer. We called Kid 1, who is also a bit of a storyteller, to get her take on my mystery.
She, too, asked lots of questions. And as I answered them, I started reshaping the motive. It was no longer two-dimensional, black-and-white. It became so totally believable that both DW and Kid 1 liked it.
So, today is my last day of work at my job of nearly 19 years. Tomorrow, I focus on my new novel.
Wish me luck.
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