The most intimidating thing I did this year, so far, is to sit down to a blank Word document and type "Chapter 1." Do you have any idea how vast that white space can look with that at the top? It's an arctic wasteland. From within the wasteland anything can happen. I can start nuclear wars, cause people to fall in love (and out), kill off a few bad guys. Or just stare at it.
Which seems to be the easiest thing to do.
Do you think God wrote "Chapter 1" thousands of years ago and then suffered writer's block? Did He write the first chapter a couple dozen times, tear it out of the typewriter (no laptops yet), crumble it up and make a spectacular 3-pointer into a black hole? Maybe that's where all the dinosaur bones came from. They're just rejected first chapters. After all, what editor is gonna buy a bunch of non-talking reptiles who do nothing but eat plants and each other?
So He decided on a love story instead. Much better idea. Of course, it had to have all the bad stuff, too. Wars, rumors of wars, hurricanes, floods, Nancy Pelosi. But then came His son about two-thirds through the book. Man, that was great. And it wasn't even the end. Most writers save the best for last. I guess the end is still pretty exciting. But still, I think the editors will have an issue with the savior showing up too soon. Doesn't exactly play out like a good western, does it?
Anyway, I'll get back to chapter 1 tomorrow morning. I don't think I'm clever enough to let the hero save the day in the middle. I'd better do it the normal way.
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