Lost and Found

 The mystery of disappearing stuff. Pens. There are dozens of them in the house, but not when I am looking for one. Also teaspoons - where do they go? The elusive habits of socks and Tupperware are legendary. Last week I could not find my step ladder. Yes, really, a step ladder. I toured the house, eventually concluding that a visiting workman must have borrowed it and taken it away, forgetting it wasn't theirs. I'd reached the inevitable conclusion - that the best way of finding something lost is to buy a new one, when I made one last foray into the spare bedroom that I had already looked in twice. And there, leaning against the wall, tucked neatly behind the ironing board, was the step ladder. It must have been there all along, mustn't it? 

It made me think about lost and found. After secrets, it might be one of the most popular motifs and motivations for novels. The journey or the treasure hunt is usually in search of something. It could be a physical item, it could be a lost family, it could be something more emotional, like a sense of self, or the chance of turning over a new leaf. I've been reading a few time slips recently , and they often focus on an item, something that has passed down through the years. I have something like that in the WIP- a Macguffin  - around which the story revolves although it is not really part of it. Actually there  are quite a number of lost things - missing papers, a sort of treasure hunt, heroine Nel's memory of the hours before a horrific car crash. I've just written that scene, and it was quite emotional and also exacting to choreograph. Until you come to write it you do not realise that the image you have in your head requires some proper working out, on a practical level.

The WIP is coming along. I have just finished the first section, so a sense of achievement. Now I have to sail off into the unknown, which is going to be a lot more tricky.  I know what has to happen, but not yet how - and then there is Nel and Logan's love story. As usual, they are going to have to tell me how that develops. It's fun, but also hard work. But no one said writing a book was easy.