The flight back to Manila from General Santos took two hours.
Finished the newspaper and the tea and the peanuts some 20 minutes into the flight and I still had about an hour and a half to burn. Got my reading book (Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson) and leafed through about five or six pages. Checked my watch and saw that only 10 minutes had elapsed. Put down the book because my mind wasn't absorbing what I was reading.
What to do to while away the time?
Pulled out the blank pieces of paper I brought with me. Took out a ballpen from my pocket. And while my companions where dozing (I was squeezed in between them), I finally started writing the story idea I had in my head for several months now. Not an outline. Not a synopsis. But the real story -- well, at least the beginning portion complete with the dialogues and the sequences needed to get the story going.
By the time the captain announced over the PA system that we were nearing Manila, I was still writing on the third page. I ignored my companion who had awakened already(and for sure he was quite curious why I was frantically writing -- he probably thought I was doing something for work)and continued writing until I was jarred when the plane hit the pavement. That was the only time I stopped writing and folded the two pieces of paper which now had three pages worth of story.
Of course, that draft will be undergoing an overhaul when I continue working on it on this here laptop but the important thing is that I got that started already. Who knows, I might finish it by the end of the month. I've got the story fleshed out in my mind. Now I just need to really keep at it until I finish the story. Along the way, I'm sure there'll be a lot of detours, additions, subtractions, and stuff. I need to make sure the fantastic elements work out well. But all in all, I felt good that I had this underway while the Muse is still there.
Nothing spurs creativity like being stuck in a two-hour flight and having nothing to do.
