Karin Bishop's comment about stepping away from work for a bit really inspired me.
I figured I should let 'Rumspringa' marinate for a few days.
However, I'm really BAD at resting...
Trying to relax got my mind to wandering. I'd recently read "Influx" and was struck by how dark it got. Like a nightmare one just can't forget. I started to muse on shadowy, rogue operations that somehow 'get loose' from their bureaucratic roots and become something sinister. I also began thinking about Ed Snowdon, Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange, and every other 'whistle blower' who began what seemed a nihilistic crusade. Out of these ingredients, I began to concoct the premise for 'Dead Ringer'
This is what happens when I have unscheduled 'down-time' :-)
Of course I couldn't write it without throwing in a TG angle. so I wondered "what if a person with gender issues went out crossdressed and was mistaken for someone wanted by forces so nefarious that the actual suspect's image never appeared on a wanted poster, and was in fact a nearly-classified secret? The 'girlfriend' and possible collaborator of a notorious alleged 'cyber-terrosist' who was actually a former employee of the rogue government agency and 'dissapeared' himself, going underground - with all their secrets?
Unlike 'Rumspringa' which is essentially complete and sitting on my desktop, with 'Dead Ringer' I just threw the premise into a few preliminary chapters and have no idea where it will go or how it could possibly end.
Maybe no one will read it and I won't have to worry about where to take it.
I'd like to 'blame' Karin Bishop for 'inspiring' me to step away from Rumspringa. But I know I would have found a way to paint myself into this corner on my own.
If there IS any interest in this story, it may take a while to move forward. I think I have the next few moves mapped out, but I have NO idea how the thing will end!