WIP Wednesday: The Plotting Game

“I thought you said you were working.”

I get that a lot when people peer over my shoulder to my computer screen. There might be words there, or there might be a game of Free Cell or Spider Solitaire in progress. And yes, that means I’m working.

I do my best plotting over a game of solitaire. When I was a teenager–long before the age of personal computers–I would sit on my bed for hours and play solitaire.

I would also tell myself stories as I played. Whether I was writing “Monkee Stories” (fanfic about the TV show/pop band) or my own “gothic” mystery (a la Mary Stewart), my best ideas came as I manipulated a deck of playing cards.

Old habits die hard, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.