While going through the Book Piles (and boxes) I've also encountered other things I kept on my shelves in the old house. Notebooks. Tons and tons of notebooks. Some for school, with quotes for this paper or that thesis, but mostly with stories.
I went through my start-a-story-but-never-finish-it stage very early. I think most everything I've written since tenth grade or so has ended up finished, if never revised, but there are notebooks with the beginnings of countless stories. I love going through them and tracing my ideas, tracing the writing style and tracing my life through the notes and doodles in the margins.
And amongst all of those is a notebook where the first plans for the MS I'm now querying are written out. In another, there's one post-it from a plot chart i made for it two summers ago.
It helps remember how long I've believed in that story specifically, and my writing in general. And it makes me more determined than ever to keep believing.
What are you believing in this season?
