For my Paid Subscribers: Writing the Chapters
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible.
- - - Vladimir Nabokov
Writing the first chapter is like going on a blind date. All you know about the person sitting opposite you is what you can see on the outside. You’re strangers. You have no opinions about each other. You have no history together. But as you get more comfortable, you begin to share deeper feelings and the life experiences that have shaped you. You notice where your lives have intersected in the past, what you share in the present, and the more often the two of you meet, the more you learn about each other. Pretty soon, you're getting acquainted from the inside out. The conversation is ongoing and you either decide that it won't work or you’re anxious to see where it can go.