Strange Phenomenons

Once you're into a story everything seems to apply--what you overhear on a city bus is exactly what your character would say on the page you're writing.  Wherever you go, you meet part of your story.  I guess you're tuned in for it, and the right things are sort of magnetized.

                                                                      --Eudora Welty

Once you've committed to a story on which you're working, external forces seem to kick in. Something at the grocery story catches your eye, a conversation you hear at a restaurant, a film or magazine article speaks to you.  A friend visits a country you're including in your book.

You don't have to ask for any of this.  It all flows naturally toward you.  Trust this phenomenon.  As long as you work on your project regularly, what you need will come to you.

catherine@catherinealexander.net