Six things I love about new stories

1) Finding a tag line that intrigues, expanding that into a story concept--the first rough synopsis.

2) Building new characters,which is the endlessly fascinating process of constructing story people, listening to their voices, learning their secret dreams and fears.

3) Creating a new story world--more construction or, just as satisfying, revisiting and refurbishing a beloved setting

4) Plotting, the fun of weaving the different character's goals, motivations, and conflicts into a new, and hopefully entertaining, tale.

5) Catching the snippets of dialogue, jotting down new twists, and playing with possibilities

6) Organizing the story blocks into a new notebook, new documents, and a new spreadsheet for tracking production.

Of course, the cat sits in, contributing his opinion. So far he's not impressed, but then he is still reading....