Sometimes You Have To Start With The Ghost

So December has been a bit of an exercise in despair writing wise.

I backed up my deadline to allow me to finish writing "The Dance of the Ancients", but I had also discovered that a story I intended to put in the anthology didn't really count as a ghost story. So there I sat, still a story short. I wracked my brains for a new story, but everything I came up with either seemed trite, forced, or to be blunt...it plain sucked.

It just wasn't working.

Then I remembered how I came up with the story for "A Long Cold Forever of a Night". I started with my ghost, or in that case the photo of the ghost on the cover of the anthology, then built my story around her. So I got out my photo editor, went to old photos from the dust bowl because I knew they would be in the public domain, and started making ghosts. I figured that since it worked once, it was worth trying again. And sure enough, after playing around a little while I finally struck paydirt.

The one in the picture above is the one that inspired a story.

He doesn't have a name yet, but he has a story...now I just have to write it. I still need to work out details such as names of people and places, and a few plot elements, but I already have the general arc of the story in mind. And since this story just hit me about an hour ago, I guess I'm going to count it as a Christmas present from my muse. The lazy little bimbo will now probably take a vacation for the rest of the year, knowing her.

But the important thing is I have story...

...I just have to write it.