Delicious and Devious

Do any of you have motion sickness?

Before my husband and I took our first cruise, I got those little wrist bands with buttons in them that you place over the pulse-points in your wrists. People have always asked me whether or not they work. All I can say is, I didn't get seasick. (Well, not as much as my history has shown.) Whether that's based on physical science or psychological phenomena, I really don't care. I had a great cruise.

That leads me to brainwaves.

I ordered the CD from Writer's Mind on January 30th. It arrived in my mailbox on February 2nd. Talk about fast. I decided it was an omen.

Here's what happened on Sunday between our regular Sunday Brunch and heading out to watch the Super Bowl with friends. I played with my brainwaves.

. . . (and the raging question is, "Would this have happened anyway?")

Broken Bones's (my work in progress) next scene is an inserted one and not a re-write. My planning process called it "Bond and partner discuss deaths" a scene culminating in Bond deciding to investigate on her own.

I sat looking at a blank computer screen (save for my scene title) and feeling icky. Zonked. Incapable of moving forward and decidedly short of any imagination. I recognized a complete lack of conflict (my critique partners have trained me well), which would undoubtedly lead me to poor scene structure and forced results. I needed help. I needed a jolt of creativity.

Determined, or at least desparate, I plopped the headphones onto my head and put my new CD on Track 1. Track 1 is called "Inspiration" and is supposedly designed to use Alpha waves to kick both sides of my brain into "relaxed mental awareness, reflection, visualization, and creativity." I threw on a jacket and pulled on some gloves (winter in Colorado) and kicked myself out the door for a little walk with mental exercise as my goal.

I started trying to force myself down the planned route of a discussion between partners. I mean, it must be in my plot plan for a reason, right? I'd gone maybe a block when I finally allowed myself to look at other options.

Voíla.

Bond is gonna come upon her partner doing something suspicious (I haven't quite figured that out yet--but it will implicate her) which will spur her to look into what's going on, increasing her personal danger. No boring discussions. Just subterfuge, pure and simple.

Science or psychology? I really don't care.

Delicious and devious.

It's all better with friends.