Birds on a wire

/ J. F. Riordan

You know those word scramble videos, where the words or letters float randomly around the screen until they finally alight and settle in their right order, like birds landing on a wire? Or the place in a puzzle where, after struggling to get any sense of the solution, suddenly in a flash it’s all perfectly clear, and you pop the answers into their spaces, one-two-three?

Well, that’s where I am in the book right now.

I see the pieces of the plot line, and the specific scenes, and they are floating around in my head, not quite finding their right order, but all there, ready to settle into their proper places. This whirling phenomenon is familiar, it is the beginning of the race to the end; the last first step before the book truly takes shape, when I can begin trimming, fitting, cutting, and polishing.

It takes so much effort and fits and starts to get to this place, but it is the good part: the part where rather than struggling to find the line, all I have to do is snatch it up out of the air and lay in its perfectly prepared spot.

Long writing days ahead, but the solution to the puzzle is whirling like those birds

We’re in the home stretch.

Have you pre-ordered?

28 thoughts on “Birds on a wire”

  3. The title is intriguing. I can’t wait to read and add this to the J. F. Riordan section on my book shelves. Good day Eli, Auggie, Mom and Dad.

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  7. Yea! I love that you’re keeping us updated on the books progress. Along with the gratuitous dog pictures. I live on social media these days for other peoples dogs & cats. And yes, I pre-ordered when you first said it was available.

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  10. I have some of the same thoughts Susan Still posted. We love to hear how your writing process works. Most “how-to write a book” resources are linear. Write a log line, develop an outline (for non-pantsers), write, edit, polish. As with most artistic endeavors, it’s a starting point that usually (always) needs modification. It’s a cycle, a process. It’s a “finding the wire” process!

    Thank you! Oh, yes, I have pre-ordered the book. Can’t wait!

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  12. But, of course, I have preordered and I can’t wait to read the new book. It sounds like you’re getting to the fun part now, where everything comes together as you’ve envisioned it. And, just like the books before George, I have no doubt that this will be a delicious read.

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  15. Just pre-ordered from Amazon. I can’t wait! May have to reread the others😊. I recommended the series to my daughter when she got an Amaz

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