At current time of writing (point zero, all blank page ahead), I believe I’m going to write about believability. I’ve even written the blog title in the box above in advance, which I believe I never do.

I’m currently battling with believing that believability is going to be believably achieved in my novel, which is straddling the alternative paradigms of:

1. believability (by way of character motivation; why on earth would the young, beautiful girl say yes to the alarming, unlikely thing?), and
2. eyebrow-raising incredulity.

Believe me, it’s a narrow tightrope to waver across, and achieved (I suppose) by a mix of skill and faith. The problem is that what I believe, you (reader) may not.

Things I believe:
– The scariest, most offensive deadlines are the most useful.
– The brain works in mysterious ways. I.e. sometimes you find yourself sitting crossed legged in a New Year Resolution workshop, cutting and sticking like a gleeful toddler to make your very first ‘vision board’ (though it is now hidden behind a piece of furniture), go home, stare at it and allow it to evoke peace, and also joy; then three days later find a cottage that looks exactly like the dream cottage you stuck on your board (chopped and curated from a magazine), visit it, horrified at the realness of it, ecstatic at the actualness; go for it and have visions that you too will know how to light fires.
– Package-free food should be cheaper than packaged food, but isn’t always.
– You will never be completely certain whether or not the items in a bulleted list require full stops at the end. (They don’t; but since you’ll never have full faith in this rule, you might mix it up)
– You can heal yourself. You can also heal others. You did feel the truth of your beloved dog’s illness, the day before she passed away, and you spoke to her about it; you can admit this to yourself.
– Sometimes there is too much music and you don’t know what you want so you play nothing
– ‘Unbelievably good’ is not a compliment (Most people might prefer to be credibly wonderful)

Things I do not believe:
– Anyone who says ‘I’ve got a really good sense of humour’; or that anyone who switches between first and third person mid-sentence when describing themselves is going to be the one.
– That spinach will ever go out of fashion.
– That the worst times ever last; that anything can’t propel itself forward until it is transformed into elseness.
– That hares are simply tall, stretched rabbits (though everyone knows they are)
– That I’m not getting closer
– That early darkness will ever feel other than a velvet, blurring cloak
– That age is anything to fear; or that it should separate.
– That there are as many things I don’t believe as do; that this makes me naive
– That the mind is ahead of the body, or that the body is ahead of the mind.
– That an ‘everywoman’ can’t do something outrageous, dangerous, daring and reckless.