I had an odd moment today. Well, not all that odd, except for how I realized it as it was happening.

So, one of my habits is to take a walk after lunch. It's a chance to get out of the office and away from the job, since I tend to eat at my desk. It's also a chance to get a view of things happening in the area around the day job location. There's enough traffic and locals that I can get in a bit of people watching.

There's a fair bit of constuction in the area, as well.

That's sort of important. Because I'm in between stories, having just finished A Wolf in Taos Valley, and I'd given myself a day or two just to let the mind run in neutral for a bit.

Which is a natural time for me to daydream. I don't know for sure, but I have at least some inkling that writers are inveterate daydreamers, just ones that have that peculiar jones to sit down and write it down for others to read. Up to this point, everything's perfectly normal.

What changed today for me was that instead of just a simple daydream kicked off by the construction work I saw on yesterday's lunch walk, I realized about ten minutes or so into my walk that I was writing/narrating a what if/story setup in my head. And that I was about a thousand words or so into that story when it clicked in for me that I was doing it.

(It's a bruiser; I think Peace Offering for a title? That seems like it might change but I don't know for sure. I also know right off the bat it's a novel. Then again, I like the title, and given the story start I have no idea at all what sort of offering might be on offer. I'm gonna have fun finding out. ;)

The odd part wasn't that I was writing the story in my head. I've done that, but usually it's on purpose. This is the first time that my subconscious just took over like that without directed purpose.

Huh. One thing's for sure. I know what I'm gonna be starting work on tomorrow...