Writers are told that in order to draw readers into your story, we must present many emotions in the first couple pages. This summer, I’ve experienced and stored up enough emotional beginnings to start and make plot twists in dozens of novels. It started with the catastrophe (tornado or straight line winds), and continues so much more beyond mere storm damage.

It involves an anticipated birth, an accidental death, and a suicide. There is abuse as well as over-the-top generosity. There is mystery in a friend’s past, and the mystery in a neighbor’s silent move in the middle of the night. There is a new sky-view with hot air balloons, aeronautics, fireworks, constellations, blueness and sun. There is fear for our lives, and joy in the anticipation of hoped-for realities. It’s been a summer of emotional extremes, and I’m trying to remember what “the lazy days of summer” means.

My task as a writer: to absorb these experiences, the good and the mysterious and the horrid, step back, and translate them onto paper.

What are your real (emotional) adventures this summer? Write them out now, even as “rough drafts,” before their rawness fades.