Finding inspiration in a storm

I have been writing my first novel for what feels like forever. In actual fact, I smashed out 40,000 words in a few months, my tongue between my teeth and my stomach buzzing with excitement. This is happening, I kept thinking to myself. And then all of a sudden, I reached the middle and drew a complete blank. An absolute, stop where you are, blank. That was 6 months ago and I haven’t written since.

I often describe writing at the moment like wading through mud. Every word is a struggle. No matter what I do, I cannot, for the life of me, think of any way to continue the story. It’s like staring into a haze, where the characters don’t really know what they’re doing or who they are. And do I even care?

I’ve read here and there (when tirelessly Googling ‘how to combat writers block’) to put the story down and let it sit. Forget about it even. Supposedly, when I open up my 100-page word document again, it will all come flooding back to me and I will have a renewed sense of motivation and my mind will be teeming with ideas and inspiration.

Like I said, I stopped writing 6 months ago…so things weren’t looking good. I’ve opened that document, read the last chapter, and closed it again.

I recently found, whilst driving home from work, the beginnings of inspiration stir within me. It was windy and the sky was darkening with an oncoming storm. I slipped into a daze as a slow and melodic song came on the radio. Leaves began to fall from the overhead trees and batter my windscreen and before my eyes, my characters manifested. As drizzling rain blurred my vision, I imagined them standing in an open field, wondering about the dangerous future ahead of them. I could see their faces, their creased foreheads from anguish.

Then I turned onto the highway into heavy traffic and the image melted.

Maybe all I needed was a storm after all.