::nobody told me::

There is something that has remained unspoken to me for many years until one day I figured it out.

{ Nobody told me how much thinking goes into writing a story. }

As a fantasy writer, there are days where I just sit and stare. Many people probably think I am doing nothing, maybe even think I'm a little psycho. They couldn't be further from the truth (except for the psycho part. *wink*). Inside my mind, I am traveling through my world, weaving magic into the universe, building cities and countries, breathing life into new races and creatures, creating history, religions, and governments.

Some days that is all I do, look out my window and slowly put the pieces of my world together.

Because of this, I think the hardest question I face is, "How's your writing?"

In my mind, I cringe because there has been no physical evidence of writing. No writing sessions where I pile on word after word, fashioning a story together; no scribblings on paper; no typing; not even a recording of my thoughts. It's all been in my head.

How does one convey to someone what I've been doing the past couple of hours?

"Oh, I haven't written anything. I've been staring out my window."

It's difficult to explain and there are days that I just give vague answers to the questions because I don't have the strength, the courage, nor the zeal to explain to someone that wouldn't understand what I do.

But the staring out the window, I've come to find is necessary. The hours thinking through how you want your world to work and run, whom you want running it, why, and how, are all important. I find that I do my best writing after I've spent a few minutes or hours staring out my window. It's then that I find the words to bring life to my story.
 

"The hardest part was being still, looking out the window." 

- Lauren Kessler

It's weird, I know, but I am a writer. I think it's part of the job description.