A new fictional world created
I’ve spent years, days, hours thinking of it. Book ideas jotted down in so many random places. When I embraced the fact that I’ve reached a place in my career where I can actually begin writing fiction it felt scary, surreal, exciting.
I gave myself time to think and sleep on it. I rested. I played to get new creative juices flowing. And then, I sat down to get to work.
Its always incredibly important to me to start from a place of rest. No matter what I want to build, grow or create, I always want to proceed from a restful and restored place.
I know exactly how much energy it takes to create fiction. Years ago I ghostwrote two different fiction series. It was exhilarating but also exhausting work. I didn’t understand back then that I needed a certain type of rest to help balance the outpouring of creative energy.
When embracing fiction writing, I decided I would bake that particular creative rest right into my workflow.
Today was the day I sat down to begin pulling my new fictional world together. First I crafted a map of the new place. I thought about stores I love, and created those within this fictional world. I thought through streets I loved walking on, driving through. I closed my eyes and visualized places I’ve been and particular things I’ve smelled there that made me feel something.
I thought through sounds on the street, textures of walkways I’ve walked. I visualized colors. Most importantly, I thought about what my readers would feel as they read and embraced this place.
Would this space invite them in to stay awhile? Would they want to meet me at the small bookstore (of course, there’s a bookstore) for a midday chat? Would they want to escape here to this space with me for just a little moment in time?
And just like that— the characters came to life. The streets grew around me in my mind. I could feel the eyes of the inhabitants and hear the ambient sounds.
I typed frantically, asked myself question after question, and a few hours later I had my heading.
I wrote the outline for the final chapter and felt the smile pull across my face.
I can still remember my sister asking me back in 2013 what I wanted to do with my life. My first husband had just left me, and I was a single mom trying to support my littles. I didn’t really have the luxury to dream back then—at least I thought I didn’t. But even then, when I was in the midst of survival mode, all I wanted to be was a writer.
I published my first nonfiction book under my name in 2020. My second one was in 2025. And now here I am, at the precipice of beginning a dream that I’ve held for so long.
I’ve clawed it to me like a precious jewel. I’ve kept it hidden from the high school English teacher who told me my writing was terrible and I should never do anything with the written word that others had to read.
I’ve hidden it deep inside through early adult years that saw me as the darkest and ugliest version of myself.
I’ve stuffed it in a drawer along with the jeans that didn’t fit me anymore, but somehow just couldn’t bring myself to part with them.
Then, my business coach and mentor, Honorée Corder, heard me whisper my fear of never getting to realize this dream. I wasn’t even sure what made me mention it to our mastermind group back in December as we met to set our goals for 2026.
She heard me, though. She, and my fellow mastermind crew members (and fellow authors Kent Sanders and Brittany Scarlett Stevens) worked with me to craft a way for that dream to surface.
You know what I did next? I came home from that meeting, put that precious dream back in the drawer, and worked to focus on other things. I was scared of the dream. I was scared to try and fail. I was scared to even let myself consider what that open door might look like.
With great patience, humor, and only a modicum of wanting to shake me a little bit, Honorée helped me reach back into that drawer and pull out that precious dream. I dusted it off, gave it a spit shine and put it prominently on my desk.
Today, the writing started. The very first scene found its way to the light, and even though I’ve been sitting at my writing desk for way too long today, it’s felt amazing.
More soon….
-M.J. James
