I have a new idea

I have an idea for a book; it's a very small idea; just the beginning of an idea, really, the seed of an idea. An idea for an idea.

I really like writing — the agonizing, joyful, maddening months of digging in and living with it, watching the thing grow, seeing the flesh appear on the bones, going back and forth with myself, with an editor, with a copyeditor — and I really like having written — watching the thing sail or shamble off into the world, to meet with praise or scorn or confusion or  (always) some mixture of them all.

But this is my favorite part. I have an idea, and I think it's really good, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it. I have a little smooth stone in my pocket, and I can feel it with my thumb, and no one knows about it but me.