The Wicked Witch of the Words (not Waste, but Words, mind) is a prolific author of First Drafts—you know, the messy stories that pour out with lots of love and passion and a lot less structure or sanity. She has so many of them, in fact, that the mere thought of editing and revising them scares her into writing more First Drafts. It’s a vicious cycle!
She’s gathered and hoarded an abundance of words throughout her life and is now using them for her stories. Stories that she wants to share with you.
Like many before her, the Wicked Witch’s talent was identified early in her life—named and praised, and eventually, of course, ignored. Ignored by her. See she unwillingly disappeared into the ordinary life for a while and that life has a habit of getting in the way of dreams. Then one day, amidst the boredom of a life that didn’t feel like it belonged to her—or her to it—the Witch came to a screeching halt. It was time to do something. To find her place. Either she’d let the people in her head along with their stories out onto the page. Or, she’d suffocate on the hoarded words. It was a choice between that and going insane, really, and she chose the former.
“I’ve got nothing to lose,” she said. “I’ll give it a go—follow my dreams. If I succeed, fantastic. If I fail, well, at least I can say I’ve tried. That way, the guilt won’t follow me to my grave.”
Morbid? Sure.
Effective? Absolutely.
So, welcome to the Wicked Witch’s humble hut where she shares some of her potions and magic spells with the world. Every season she invites her Cauldron Crew for a friendly, witchy chat ‘round the fire. In the meantime, she stirs whatever is in the cauldron of imagination to brew more stories—stories that will eventually require her to stop creating and start molding.
If she’s not smashing away at the keyboard or arguing with her characters, she’s bound to be in a cosy corner, well-hidden behind stacks of books and reading one or ten different books (talk about a mood reader!), with a blanket wrapped around her, and a coffee that has gone cold long ago.
And that’s how we leave her for now—a willing hostage to the world of fiction and imaginary characters.
