All at once

So, while I am drafting my graphic novel, another story has finally begun to flow. True to my nature, my mind is divided between two streams of thought. After reading Negotiating with the dead by Margaret Atwood, I began to be less mystified by the process I'm going through. A novel unfolds, it isn't written in a linear fashion. That misconception kept me stagnant for far too long, I could never get past the first line. But I found if I just sat down and let it go, I was actually writing.
The thing I've learned about writing is, it isn't really like writing at all, it's more like letting go.

My writing habits are reminiscent of my reading habits. I read more than one book at a time, come to think of it, I have anywhere from two to five journals going at any given time and I now have several online versions to choose from depending on the prevailing mood of my muse.

Right now, my challenge is to focus on these two projects, well three I guess if you include my journaling. All three inform each other and I believe are instrumental in whittling down the experiences I want to distill and reorder in a story telling fashion.

My newest one is probably my oldest one. The one I've been writing in my head since I was about six years old. My working title is the Chronicles of Binah. There are three books comprising twelve years of the heroines life. I'm writing them in the order of 0-12, 24-36, and then will delve into 13-23, the "lost years", which will tie everything together. A bit unorthodox, but it wouldn't be true to Binah any other way.

The scenes I write come to me in flashes, like that of illumination, or thorough intoxication. What I spill onto the page shows me even more of my inner self, thereby helping me to know myself, this being the ultimate, if not simplified message of many enduring esoteric traditions, including the Kabalistic Tree of Life and quest for knowledge.

Binah is the working name of the heroine for two reason's, its a derivative of my first nickname, not quite my baby name of Reena, not quite my full and adult name, it's a name I was known by during an intermediate stage of my life. Secondly, Binah or intelligence/understanding, is the name of one of the ten Seriphoth or Sefira comprising the kabalistic tree of life. I find it very significant that balanced across from Binah, is the Seriphoth called Chokma, or wisdom. Wisdom being the central meaning of my own mothers name.

The Chronicles of Binah is the tale of a magician's journey of initiation. When we first meet Binah, she is contracted as a child-helper to a modern day witch. The story, filled with witches on bikes, telepathic cat's, and fierce deities, is told against the backdrop of the world I knew as a child. A world that knew the hope of Terry Fox, The faith of the Jedi, and the desperation of tens of thousands of children arriving in boats from a far away place called Vietnam.

The soundtrack would probably include the Beatles, BTO, Abba, Carol pope, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Nicks, Jimmy Hendrix, Barry Manilow anything 1960's 1970's some 80's.
Roadrunner's and levis' were the jeans of the day, chic was trying to take a bite out of the pie, internet was only a rumor and Atari reigned supreme.

You can check out some of my rough drafts I call snippets here.

I'm playing right now with "voice", first person vs omniscient presence, past tense vs present tense etc. Not ready for any publishers yet that's for sure.