Sometimes the Brain Helps

My arms rhythmically move, pulling me through the water in a steady, smooth glide. In the back of my head, I’m counting, “One, two, breathe. One, two, breathe.” But at the forefront of my mind, I’m a steel dragon covered in soot and rust and hiding beneath a dumpster while three street boys search for parts to sell. They’ll tear me apart if they find me. I’m trying to decide if I should run away or attack because hiding isn’t going to be an option much longer. And then I’m following the possibilities when I do each of those.

I’ve written before about how the brain acts like a muscle, the more you work certain aspects of it, the stronger it gets. But no matter how many times I experience it, I’m always surprised when my brain starts processing something without me really planning it.

This happened while swimming the other morning. I’m in the rhythm of my workout and suddenly realize I have half an outline for the next adventure book mapped out in my head. I needed a notebook fast! And water and paper don’t go hand-in-hand. *Sigh*. Guess it’s time to start working on the memory aspect of my brain.

All that to say, the editing and writing are going well. It’s always slower than I want but it’s an amazing feeling to see each story, HMII and Zap Dragon, start to come together. And it’s even more amazing when my brain flips from resisting the process to assisting it without my prior planning!

Hopefully, that’s an encouragement to whatever you’re working on right now. Persistence does pay off.

Blessings,

Jennifer

P.S. The HMII developmental edit is 76% done! Zap Dragon is with the illustrator and I’ll jump into editing it soon