Super Bowl

Usually, my writing process involves a Word document that contains, in the following top-down order: a story’s beginning, scene fragments, and then notes and cues about where it looks like the plot’s going. It’s disheartening to read through a story you’ve let be for a few weeks and feel decently happy with the words, only to get to the end and find your “notes” anemic. And you can’t scroll down any more. It’s one thing to read a finished story and be surprised by where the plot goes. It’s another thing to look at twenty-some pages and not be sure what these characters want to do (for my next trick, this character will…stand here and look pretty?). This is why writers drink. It’s also why writers let pieces be—like how Bryan fills plates with cells and lets them grow—and work on something else. And when you’ve done that with all the pieces you’re working on (my halftime score for anyone keeping track: two short stories and one longer “thing”), it’s time to go watch football.