I once said that a story is like a relationship. Sometimes you go out with a story a couple of times then you see what that story is like drunk or something and you decide its time to go in different directions. Or sometimes there is nothing wrong with your story, but you see another story walking by and you can't help it because suddenly, that other story is all you can think about. Sometimes, you're with a story because you've been writing on it for so long, and you've invested so much, that breaking it off because you don't feel anything for it would be irresponsible.

Just as it is with love, though, man, when a story is real, you know it. There's passion and you want to be with the story not out of obligation but because you enjoy it. It feels so good to be able to sit down and crank out three solid hours of good writing instead of just going through the motions.

For me, falling in love is the closest I can come to really being into a manuscript from the writing side.

So -- what happens to all of your ex-manuscripts? Again, as it is with love, there are some that you'll always have a little place in your heart for and there are some that you never want to see again. Maybe theres the one you just drifted apart from and long to get back together with. For most, It doesnt seem wise for me to go back, because anytime I've tried, I just end up making the same mistakes.

The strangest thing is, for those stories that I continue to think about from time to time with affection... well I want to see them written, just like those in my past I want to find happiness. And I know I can't write them. I know I can't do the story justice. What happens to them? I've actually asked two different people to finish out one of them.

I think there should be a place for decent plots and good characters to go, like an orphanage or a pound or a singles.net... so, they can be told one day and told better than I would have been able to do. You know, matched up on a billion different levels of compatability.

I like to think of my writing as like a stove. Some stories will be up front (whatever I'm working on now), others will be on the back burner (what I'm not working on but still have an interest)...still others get taken off and discarded (things I never plan to work on again at the moment). I'll be stirring this, adding that, letting this or that come to a boil or simmer...

However...things move around all the time. Every so often, some old, or very old, idea will come back up and command my attention for awhile before fading back. Even completed, sent-out, and rejected stories will occupy the front of my stove for a while before I force them down again.

I was like that for YEARS with the basement story. That stalled out twenty years ago. Then I did those story-in-a-week stories. I picked up the basement story and finished it. It's a great, fun read now and I'm proud of it.

I find sometimes -- for me -- it is better to just write crap enough to finish the story. It's lame, so what? Someday I'll return and clean it up. It helps me to have some idea of the whole story set out in text.

I find I cycle through stories. And yes, they are very much like loves. Some are crushes that hit hard, and I'm over them after the first few pages. Others are the mature ones, the ones I'm ready to commit to--these are my finished book drafts.