The phone is on my desk, on speaker. I’m on hold. As I listened to the “your call is important to us” message for the tenth time, I realized this is a superb metaphor for my writing. My novel has been on hold for months. I’m not sure who I’m waiting for, or what information I need from this person. Perhaps I’m waiting for my villain to show his motivation. Perhaps my heroine doesn’t want to be quite as accommodating as I’ve written her. Perhaps one of my subplots needs to be excised.
The good news is I wrote myself into this corner, so I can write myself out of it. The business on the other end of the line may not answer my call for another hour, but I can make my characters pick up now by opening my novel document and throwing words at the page until they stick. There’s nothing else to do while I wait, so I might as well write.