If I were using a typewriter, my floor around the trashcan would be littered with crumpled wads of paper. But my rejects are all in digital space. I’ve trashed more opening chapters than I care to admit, but a few have survived – saved in the purgatory of my “Future Stories?” folder.

I’m heartened that there’s a theme to some of these “false” starts, and I sense that I’m zeroing in on the one that will sink its teeth in me and not let go. It has to be an idea so unshakeable that I can’t imagine not writing it, for there’s nothing worse than getting a hundred pages into a draft and losing interest.

While some of my seeds have had components of fantasy and science fiction, I’m still tending toward near-future reality as my setting. I want, ultimately, to write stories that are accessible, believable, plausible. Nothing against the fantasy or sci-fi genres – I still love them.

Onward through the fog …