Turning screws

Last night I sat down for my daily 30 minutes of writing and almost instantly began to write, which rarely happens (usually I have to sludge around a bit in my mental marshes to find a clear pathway and a story to tell). The words just started coming out, and I had no idea what they were going to be about. I kept writing and then in the fourth paragraph interesting things started happening, and before long I found myself amazed at what was taking place in the story. (Sorry to keep you in suspense, but it's still a very rough draft. I'll upload the first chapter to Blank Slate when I get it to a workable state.) Before long I was in a sort of writing trance, there in the scene with my characters. (I know because I could no longer hear the music coming from my iPod.) And this morning I couldn't stop thinking about the story while I was in the shower, and several good ideas came to me then. I'm going to have to get a waterproof notebook to take into the shower with me. ;)

Last night I went to the library's reading room (which is fantastic, really -- very conducive to reading) and read the first two chapters of Henry James's Turn of the Screw. It's an interesting book. What does that mean? Haven't a clue. :) James's style has a bit too many interruptions for me (pauses set off by commas, that is), but he's very good at painting the characters. (Side note: when I was younger, for some reason I always thought that Turn of the Screw was either the same as or a parody of Taming of the Shrew. :))