Like Home to Me

What do you do when there are people living in your head that won't leave you alone?  Okay, I'm completely aware of how crazy that question makes me seem, but exactly 23 days ago that's exactly what happened to me. A girl name Jules and a guy named Jake completely took up residence in my mind and wouldn't leave me alone. They had a story they wanted me to tell and wouldn't stop until I finally opened a new Word document and began to write. I wrote over 30,000 words in that first week and doubled that over the following two. Two days later, I finished the manuscript for No Place Like Home, and then I cried. Not because I believe their story is something profound. Hell, I'm not even sure anyone would care to read it. I cried because of the exhaustion these characters caused me, but more than that, I cried because I was so proud. I've written nearly a dozen stories by now, but never before have I been so completely invested in a group of characters the way I had been while writing this story. And after I wrote it, I read it. It was almost an out of body experience because holy hell, it didn't even sound like me. I couldn't stop reading page after page even though I knew exactly how the story ended...I wrote it! Anyway, I'm writing this post because I love all my characters, but these are especially important to me because this is the first time I've written something completing impulsively, and it lead to some of the most amazing material I have ever written. I can't wait to share it with the rest of the world. People may read it, and they may not. I'm not expecting much, but I hope they do. And I hope they love Jake, Jules, and the rest of the crew as much as I do.

-D.