Breakthrough

I had a mini-breakthrough today--some insight about a character I've been struggling to get to know. Suddenly I understand him much better, which is such a relief because he is one of the main characters and if he doesn't ring true, it will really weaken my story.

As much as I torture myself about this writing thing, as much as I agonize over all the details and struggle with getting it all down as well as I can, I also love it like nothing else on earth. It's such a powerful feeling, working through a problem that's been nagging at me for months, receiving these flashes of insight from who knows where. It fills me with a happiness that borders on euphoria and lasts for hours. It's why I get up at 4:30 in the morning and have stuck with it for going-on three years. It's days like today that keep me at it on the days when nothing seems to work.

I wish every time I sit down to write could be as glorious as today, but I guess it's the painful writing sessions that help make the productive ones taste so sweet. Maybe if the lows weren't so low, the highs wouldn't be as high.