I watched my youngest prince run in the backyard. He moves with fluid grace. His actions, arm movements, and facial expressions indicate a magnificent battle playing out in his head. His heart is in the story. He does not notice me watching for a few minutes from my bedroom window.

I smile thinking he’s probably creating an anime fantasy story acting it out in his head and body. He executes an astonishing move as he turns at the end of the stepping stone path. One leg is outstretched while the other is curled backwards, almost touching his spine. He spins 180 degrees in the air. His long brown hair flies following the arc of his body. He lands neatly on the stepping stone that was behind him. Touching the stone lightly, he unfurled the leg in the air stretching it forward and leaps to the next stone while swinging his arms if he has fighting swords. It was amazing to watch. No wonder he works up a sweat!

What’s even more amazing is this is how I released my imagination as a child. I grew up in small town, rural Florida. My father had ten-acres of land. We had horses, chickens, goats, pigs, geese, rabbits, a cow, farm cats and of course dogs. Not necessarily all at the same time but there were always several furry mouths to feed.…but I digress. I’m setting the stage here.

My imagination could run wild. It all depended on where my head was that day. I loved imagination games. They could be played with friends, like Wild West or Pirate adventures. I could act them out in my head with imaginary people. My furry friends were glad to join in the fun. My faithful terrier, Coco, loved to play “Benji” in my “Girl on her Own” make-believe romps.

My beloved quarter horse mix, Rusty, lived to canter around 55 gallon drums when, I was a patriotic warrior belting out the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the top of my off-key lungs. I hope no one was listening!

I loved taking an idea then coming up with my own story in my head. Just like my prince, when I thought no one was looking, I would take it a step further and act it out. I would see how my mythical monsters might work without gravity weighing them down. With my friends, furry or human, we could create worlds if we just let ourselves flow into an idea.

Sometimes I think. If I had only believed in being a writer much younger, I could have written those stories. I might have captured the magic. Are they lost forever? I really don’t think so. They are a part of my…I almost wrote “childhood.” It’s more than my childhood. This is a part of my life. It is a place where my mind goes to create ideas. Now I put my imagination into words.

Do I still act out my imaginings? Well…I must admit…Yeah…I do. I carry on imaginary conversations between characters to see if it works out loud. I ask myself is that how Cora would react? Would Gable actually say that? Then I re-work the dialogue with the information I find out from my characters.

I do try to do this when I’m alone. That way I can get as loud or as crazy as my mind can create. I think of it as brainstorming Milly style! I don’t know a lot of writers. I also don’t read a lot on “how to write.” Which to me is sooo boring. It’s like English. A little secret between you and me…I hated English class.

I don’t want to read about writing, I want to write! Because of this, I have been focused on getting stories on the page. So I don’t know if other authors do this sort of thing. I find it helps me get the picture I want to describe in my head.

Fortunately, my guys know I do this. They don’t barge in when I’m talking to air in my room. Of course, the princes are usually role-playing on an online game. So in essence, In Milly’s Realm we are all doing the same thing. They have RPG and I have RPW*. We are role-playing with our imaginations.

So is the story lost? Nope! We are lost in the story. Have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy!

Milly

*RPG – Role Playing Game and RPW – Role Playing Writing (Yes I made that up! 😀 )