A Cockroach Bound didn’t begin with an act of writing; it began with an act of running. 

Running supports my writing career like nothing else.  It inspires me more than music, real life events, or even dreams.  I would love to jog every day, but it doesn’t always happen. I can clearly see a difference on those days when I can’t manage to get off the couch.  My inspiration dries up, I’m irritable, I overeat.  There were a few weeks this past fall when I was logging in about six miles daily.  It was like someone hooked me up to a nitro boost.  Those were days when I’d pound out five thousand words, as if I channeled the characters.  And that was in addition to my consultant job.  It was crazy and very satisfying.

The running that led to the development of A Cockroach Bound started months before I fired up Microsoft Word.  For almost six months prior to one word hitting the page, I ran and let my unconscious pour images and scenarios into my brain.  Most of those scenarios never made it into the novel, and Sam is a much different demon than she originally started out.  Still, those active imagination sessions were crucial to her formation as a character.

I usually write with a vague, loose outline and, with a few exceptions, fill in the story chronologically.  Every now and then, inspiration for a future scene or event will hit me and I’ll note it down.  Those unfortunately end up deleted more time than not.  By the time I reach that part of the novel (or even that point two books out), characters have grown and things have happened that make those scenes obsolete.  I still write them down.  I have to or they beat at my brain without mercy, blocking me and holding me back.  To move forward, I have to acknowledge the idea by putting it on paper, even if it gets deleted later.

After my first rough draft is done, there is always fill in to do.  Inevitably I’ve highlighted sections as “more detail”, “research this”, “describe this”.  Sometimes I’ve skimmed over these sections because they require a road trip for research, and I can’t always just hop in the car and go.  Often I’m on a roll with dialogue, or at a critical plot development point and just need to race ahead before it all falls out of my brain.  It’s no biggie for me to come back later and smooth out the rough edges, but it is a problem to divert my thoughts to details when they want to move on with the action.

Then, of course, there are the edits.  This is where I catch things like “I already explained this two chapters ago” and “That is so not Wyatt.  What was I thinking?”.  I do some of this editing as I write, backing up a bit and reading a few days of work to get me in the flow and establish continuity.  Still, there are often five or more whole edits before I’m exhausted and ready to have a fresh set of eyes look everything over.  I always ask my beta readers to feel free to make notes, whether they catch a typo or a glaring plot error that my tired brain missed.

I know I’m not the only one who creates in this fashion.  Let me know how you find inspiration, what essential activities (or routines) set the stage for your creative success.