November 2006: Writing/Not Writing (cont.)

And I know something about the modern girl who will come across the ghost. Something, but not enough. What I don’t yet have is the way the two stories will intersect. That is the secret, always, of ghost stories, to bring two entirely distinct stories together.

And so, instead of writing, I count the books already on the shelf. I gaze once more at the marvelous photos by Stan Tekiela in Baby Bear Discovers the World, book 60. I punch the button and watch the lights twinkle in Christmas Lights, my 61st.

But the place the writing comes from is still and waiting. I am not quite empty, but certainly not yet ready to pour myself out into another book.

Sometimes it feels as though I’ll never be ready again.

Sometimes it feels as though I’m just about to open my heart and begin.