I don’t usually talk about my writing process, because I’m worried some people may find these stories of my brain’s inner workings boring and meaningless. But this story just holds too special a place in my heart for me not to share the story of its creation.

If you know me well, you know that I do, like, no planning beforehand. I just dive right in and see where the story goes. I write the first draft really fast, then slow down a bit to edit. And maybe that’s what makes The Conductor special… because it was not at all like that.

The idea for the story—two orchestras waging an invisible battle—came to me at the exact wrong time. See, I was right in the middle of NaNoWriMo, perfectly happy writing a new, exciting novel, and the last thing on earth I wanted or needed was a new idea. Nevertheless, that’s what I got.

And to make things worse, the idea was related to a very, very old idea, abandoned and forgotten. I had several years’ worth of drafts of the beginnings of a new kind of story, one where music is a part of the fictional world itself, all centering around a mysterious character named Gahfa (if you know, you know). I kept getting stuck on that one, and finally admitted that maybe I wasn’t meant to write it.

Too bad, the idea said. I’m still here and you’re going to write me whether you like it or not.

So I sighed, took up my notebook, and wrote.

That could’ve been the end of it, but no. There’s a great level of irony with this story. Sometimes I think, maybe I was never meant to write it at all, but then if that were the case why would it have held on to me even when I tried to abandon it?

The book is, at large, about spiritual warfare, and that’s all I will say about that, because I want to let you find that out for yourself. But could it be that as I was writing about battles and spirits, I was myself engaged in such a conflict?

We’re all familiar with writer’s block, no doubt. I get it with every writing project. It’s just a part of the process. The thing about writer’s block is that it usually comes from within. Your creativity fuses blew themselves. Your brain forgot to water the story plants. I don’t know, it’s late and I’m not good with metaphors. The thing about writing The Conductor was that what I called writer’s block felt so strong and so oppositional, and it was so constant, that I reasoned it couldn’t come from my own short-circuited brain. It was something outside of myself. That’s why I say maybe I was never meant to write the story at all, that is, maybe something else didn’t want me to write it to begin with.

I do believe there is a spiritual realm, and I do believe there are battles we aren’t aware of. And through all my searching, I can find no other explanation for this story except that God just kind of popped the image into my brain and then wouldn’t let me run away from it, and I did try to run away from it at times.

So you can imagine my excitement when I held the story in my hands for the very first time. (just look at the picture)

All in all, the story took three years to write, and another three to realize I needed to publish it, and that brings us back to the present. The Conductor is a piece of my soul, and I’m ready to share it with you.

Also, on an unrelated note, NaNoWriMo is just a few short hours away, so stay tuned to hear about some of my brand new writing adventures! And don’t forget to mark your calendars for December 3rd, which is when The Conductor hits the shelves!