Unquenchable Thirst - a guest post by J.A. Beard

Writing consumes me.

I stand at a street corner. I wait, my hands in my pockets, for the signal to change. As my thoughts drift, they settle upon different people who don’t really exist: a young Regency Englishwoman who cares more about scholarship than getting married, a teen forced to move far from her home, a tense enchantress. I can’t help it. These fake people dominant my idle thoughts. Only my family holds more sway in my mind.

The pattern repeats no matter where I am. If I allow my mind to wander, it keeps going back to these characters and others. Some are fully articulated with detailed histories and personalities. Others are the barest hint of an idea. They coalesce into plots, and those plots become stories.

These stories weigh upon my mind, and I begin to think them through, to experiment. I begin to ask myself questions. What if a certain character was placed into a particular sort of situation? Will my new plot idea seem interesting? If magic came into the world in the 18th century, how might that change things?

When the ideas crystallize, it’s time to put fingers to my keyboard. While I can use spare time during my busy day to think over my stories, typing up a story, let alone editing it, takes time. With a spouse, two children, and two jobs, there’s not much time left for writing. So I sacrifice the only thing I can: sleep.

It’d be easier if I didn’t want to write these stories. It’d be easier if I didn’t care, but I can’t. Writing is an addiction and an unquenchable thirst. I need the high of putting out a chapter, the satisfaction of making a fictional construct seem real. It’s too late for me now; the only way to stave off the thirst is to keep writing.

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J.A. Beard is an author of paranormal, fantasy, and historical fiction.

The first product of J.A. Beard’s writing addiction, THE EMERALD CITY, a young adult modern urban fantasy take on the Wizard of Oz will be released at the end of January. A WOMAN OF PROPER ACCOMPLISHMENTS, a Regency paranormal romance, will be out in mid-February.
J.A. Beard can be reached at bms.beard@gmail or at riftwatcher.blogspot.com.