You’ve heard the joke.
“The first thing that goes is your memory. I forget what the second thing is.”
Y’uk. Y’uk.
I’ve come to accept that I need to adopt some of the strategies I once taught to people I was helping find and keep jobs. Working to move on from brain injuries, these folks were introduced to systems, tricks and cues that helped them meet responsibilities they’d never struggled to meet before.
Now I’m writing novels, creating worlds that are supposed to be like the ones we live in. And I’ve followed a hockey team, many of them, actually, over Megan Mayers’s goaltending career. That meant not only names for players and coaches to track, but teams, organizations, nicknames for teams, plus schedules, results and standings as a number of seasons pass.
To do it well, well, I can’t really call what I’m doing a system. It’s more piles of notes, lists of possible nicknames for new teams, and more and more players we meet again as they appear playing for someone two leagues later when they get older.
Right now, Megan is getting ready to face the acknowledged power in her high school league. Can she beat them? Well, we’ll have to find out. And that includes me, but I’m about to do it as I write.
As the author Ian McKuen has explained, “I write to find out what happens.”
You? You’ll have to read the book.