I was cleaning out my fridge recently, and bent down to make sure I got everything on the bottom shelves. When I turned, I realized something I’d never noticed before–a narrow shelf at the bottom of the door of the fridge.

Huh.

I’ve lived in my house for more than three years, and I’ve had the same fridge the entire time. And it took this long to discover I now have a convenient place for my water bottles.

Writing is a little like this. I work on a story, have a pretty good idea of where it’s going. Then I discover something about one of the characters or an element of the story that surprises me. I’m learning a lot about Jeffrey as I work on his story this week. With each story, one of the characters comes through more clearly than the other. In this case, I know Shay better, so I’ve been actively working to understand Jeffrey. It’s a slow and steady process, more fun than cleaning out the fridge.

I hope the results will be wonderful.