Critical Mass

Yesterday while running errands, I remembered a story that I forgot I had written. A while back I read about a short story contest somewhere with the topic of “alien witchcraft.” Well that was right up my alley so I set to work on it.

Eventually I had a good idea and I even wrote most of the story if I recall correctly. But as the ways of the world would have it, I never finished. The deadline passed and I got to working on my book and other things. Apparently after that I completely forgot about that story until yesterday.

I’m not sure how it came up, because alien witchcraft isn’t something you usually run across on your day to day errand running. But there it was in my head. This was not a case of thinking of something I wasn’t thinking of a moment ago. I had completely forgotten that I even thought up that story. When I was reminded, it seemed to come out of thin air, as if somebody else had written it.

I was delighted. In part because I remembered it as being not bad, and there being no reason why I wouldn’t go back and finish it. And in part because I felt I had reached some critical mass; I had written enough stories that I couldn’t hold them all in my head any more. Could have been temporary amnesia as well, but at least it was a good story…I think. I won’t know for sure until I find it.