Brainstorming Brilliance

Omigod, what a great brainstorming session! I finished the draft of the first half of my work in progress today, knowing it was just not right, but keeping my writing friend Mary Kay Andrew’s words of wisdom in mind (“You can’t rewrite what you haven’t written”). Then I gave it to my sig other John to read and we went out to dinner to discuss the mess I’d created. We asked for a big booth at the restaurant and John pulled out his pages of notes and I pulled out my blank notepad and we began. I knew I had a really good story in that manuscript, but the structure was wrong. So we played with a dozen other ways of telling the story and finally–finally–I got it! Oh yeah, baby. Once I figured out the structure, all the other elements began to slip neatly into place. Now I’m super psyched to get back to work tomorrow. We’re at the beach and I’m so glad I brought my outline board with me because I’ll be writing about a hundred new index cards to tack on it in the morning. I’m only three months from deadline (gulp) but I have the feeling this re-engineered story is going to write itself. I’m counting on it!

So how about you? What have you brainstormed lately?