"So Amy, how's your week been?" Maggie Moran, MFT asked, probably because I'd been sitting there, not speaking.
I was staring at her mug. She had quite a collection of them. "I'm writing a book," I said, realizing I'd been stalling, not sure how to begin. "I know I've told you that I've been working on a story, a romance. And yes, the lead man was based on the persona of my former boss, and I was using it as a way to vent my frustration at his stubborn arrogance."
"Uhm hm," she prodded.
"But that got old, and it's obviously gone nowhere... It's gone from being a deceptively light chick lit story, to an entirely different exercise."
"I like that you call it an exercise," Maggie said with a warmly intrigued smile. "Now, how does that work exactly?"
I sighed, pondering how to explain. "It's just there in everything I'm writing. I seem to need to continue to have a strong element of deception and betrayal in the plot. The sort that defies basic human decency," I told her.
Her smile turned to a smirk that told me to admit more.
"I imagine that's because I still need to purge some of my own baggage." There, I said it. I smirked back. "But mostly, I need to escape my current reality, and I'm finding that investing my heart in the lives of my characters is giving me a new sense of purpose."
"I like your level of introspection, Amy," she praised. "And I'm not hearing anything here that causes me concern. You don't necessarily need to consider what you're doing as escape. It sounds constructive and purposeful. It's important to bring in a balance of happier times to help level out your recent hardships. This endeavor sounds both productive and entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading your story." She leaned forward with elbows on knees, hands clasped around her mug of chamomile. "Now, tell me about your characters?"
I smiled the smile that comes when I think of them: The Circle of Power. "Well, there are five of them. They are the core, bonded by common childhood horrors, and united through an organization that is unfortunately not the educational institution that it represents itself to be. But that's another explanation for another session. Besides, I don't have the details worked out yet. Only that it's called The Institute."
"The Institute? Sounds official, and subversive. I'm intrigued," Maggie said.
I wobbled my eyebrows at her, but said no more. She sipped her tea.
Now I grinned. "Okay. The characters are Dakota Craig, Halpern Ensohn, Skipper Long, and Rafe and Alfonz Romero."
"And who plays the lead in this cast of characters?" she asked, tilting her head as she openly studied me. "I like what I'm seeing here, my dear. Writing is your calling.
" My grin widened. "Yes." I swallowed hard, suddenly overcome with the feeling of cry - that surge of joy that swells your chest and clogs your throat and fills your eyes with tears. Deep breath, Amy. "There are two leading roles at first, but then I'll introduce two more." I took another deep happy breath. "The main character, the one whom I want my audience to follow the most is Dakota Craig. She's my age, and she's got a lot of baggage."
"And who is Dakota?"
"She's me, most definitely, although she's not all of me," I readily admitted. "She's my inner loser, the one that blames herself for life's horrible twists of fate. She's also a singer. She sings the way I always wanted to." I laughed at that, remembering the way I'd scream sung to Natalie Furtado's I'm Like A Bird as I drove to this appointment. "I just wrote a scene with her singing. It's when she's at her best."
"What led up to her singing, in this scene you wrote?"
I still had that silly grin on my face. I felt happy. I shook my head. "Uh, well, they're on a cruise, and there are bad things happening behind the scenes on the ship. Something I've called portholing..."
"Excuse me?" she asked, with a look that said she was pretty sure I meant what she thought I meant.
(All content on this site is copyright protected. It is meant to inspire my readers to both read my work and to indulge in their own. Conversations With A Specialist is trademarked by Debbie S. Kirchen. If you would like to find out more about the Particpants of the Project, click here. You can follow Halp on Twitter @halpernensohn. Amy Stuart is a character from Images of Silence, available here.
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