the joy of discovery

Was feeling incredibly weary this afternoon, but decided to do some work on a long term writing project.  So glad I did - was a very energising experience.

Not least because I was getting incredibly interested in researching one aspect of the project.  As I wound down for the afternoon I paused and considered: what if I take this and add it to a previous topic I'd been looking at?  All under the same general banner, but so far divided, subtopics in different sections, if you like.

I took what I'd been learning and applied it to my previous research.

Wow.


It was one of those moments when I realised there was no need for me to make a link; the link was there waiting for me, radiating through the subject matter, ready to be discovered.

I was so excited, mind spinning with delight.

I can't declare that it is an 'original idea'; I'm sure I'm not that clever, but it felt so specific, so different that I half wanted to write a dissertation instead of a book.

You're either baffled in a bored kind of way or frustrated that I'm not telling you what it was.  But my thoughts feel too precious right now; I need to clutch them to myself for a while.  When I express them I'll be doing so properly - writing them out, making the book work.  In all honesty, it's not something I could easily summarize at this stage.

It wouldn't seem all that exciting to anyone else anyway.  But when you've been researching a subject, following ideas and then suddenly, unexpectedly, bam! A new vista opens up, a eureka moment takes place.

I don't have them very often; it felt so encouraging.  It reminded me of the joy of discovery.  I love to learn and to study, and to express this in writing is something I find hugely rewarding.