The Reader's Cry to the Writer

As I stuffed a K-cup into my Keurig this morning, I heard my cat hissing behind me. That was a bit odd, since she doesn't normally start the day off in a foul mood. Sure, Phoebe is the mob boss of the pets but her hissing is reserved for when another pet is getting too close. Figuring I was needed to break up a fight, I turned and saw another oddity, she was eating the dog food. That was beneath her.

Phoebe is a bit of a hog, but she is and always has been, loyal to the cat food her first owner gave her. Hmmm, I thought and turned to finish up with the morning ritual of creaming my coffee until it no longer looked or smelled like coffee, taking my vitamins, and handing the pets their treats for just being cute.

All the while the thought of her gorging on the dog food niggled at me. It was a mystery. Or was it? As I completed the routine the dots connected, she was desperate. I rushed to the closet where we keep the cat food to keep the dog out (gives her stinky toots!), fell to my knees, and reached in for her bowl. It! Was! EMPTY!

If this were a movie, strategic jump shots would have emphasized every word showing the terror on my face. All because I broke the house rule...always feed the Phoebe! I grappled with the food bag, cat food spilling all around as I let it tumble out like a waterfall filling the bowl. I leapt out of the way and Phoebe thumped in and slammed her face into the food. I rested on my knees and slowly released a weighted breath. I chided myself to never make the same mistake again.

That snippet of a story was me practicing my new adage for story writing...get them in and keep them in!

That thought came to me this morning while mindlessly staring out the window. I could almost hear a reader crying out to me. Avid readers don't want to be disappointed in us. They want us, no, need us to create an escape for them.

And it really is that simple. It's about the story. The better you write it, the more your reader will want to read it. Write that hook that pulls them in and reel them in with every word that follows.

I've researched so much about the rules of writing, went to seminars, attended monthly writing meetings until I've flooded my poor right brain with information that's weighing me down and smashing my creativity. Today it's back to just letting the storyteller lead and all will work out as it should.