Are You an Excogitator?

Have you excogitated today? I have.

Be aware, symptoms vary and may not manifest themselves at all. You might stare out the window or at a blank wall. Perhaps you nod in agreement when no one has spoken, or shout and leap up from your chair. Tears could stream down your face. Your heart races and you might grin like a fiend or quietly make a few notes. Yes, the symptoms differ, from writer to writer.

Perhaps we’re not yet excogitating when that first flash of inspiration strikes. At that specific moment, when we delicately roll a new story concept across our palettes and relish the fresh aroma and heady flavor, then, we haven’t yet excogitated, but someday we spit and rinse then roll up our sleeves, and yes…it’s time to excogitate.

Writers wear so many hats: hero, villain, choreographer, world-builder, character assassin, landscaper, musician, politician, agitator, peacemaker, soldier, theologian - I could go on and on. So we’re all excogitators, whether we admit it or not. We think and plot and study. We invent entire worlds, individuals, and societies. We devise and concoct.

I’m an excogitator and proud of it.

I do wonder though, if I ever stop writing, does that mean I’m an ex-excogitator?

~ Folio