Which came first? The chicken or the egg? As I am writing this post, I hear the faint “cheep, cheep” of a newly hatched chick—one of my son’s latest projects. So I can’t help but think about that old adage. Of course, as a Christian, I know the chicken came first because God created birds on the fifth day. So what does this have to do with writing? Plenty. Our writing ideas are like the development of a chick!

Breaking Through

When we get an idea of what to write, it’s much like a breakthrough. We crack through that hard shell of writer’s block and poke our way into the light of inspiration. Of course, we have to struggle sometimes to get past that initial stage. But after a bit of time, the idea has set itself free and is ready to be developed.

Gathering Strength

Breaking through that eggshell takes several hours. A lot of energy has been expended. So it’s not surprising that once a chick hatches, it tends to take a few naps as it gets warm under the heat lamp. Once our idea hatches, sometimes it’s good to step back and rest a bit. We are gathering strength to move into the development stage of scratching that idea into a story.

Moving Forward

When a chick is first born, it doesn’t walk right away. It short of scrambles about, trying to find its land legs. But over time and after several attempts, it finally can move about a bit. Moving forward with our idea sometimes takes time. Yes, we do get those moments when the words just flow and our fingers fumble about as we work that keyboard to get our words down. But sometimes we can only move a bit at a time.

First Fluff, Then Feathers

A chick is more of a wet mess when it first comes out of its shell. But over a few hours, it develops a soft fluff. These downy feathers will eventually change into new feathers after several weeks. Our stories need to grow and mature. They need to move from the fluff stage and into a full grown story.

Hatching an idea into a story is our goal as writers. With a bit of time and patience, we can develop a manuscript we can be proud of!

Are you ready to hatch some ideas for 2025?

Catherine L. Osornio has written inspirational articles for a women’s ministry newsletter, over 200 leveled reader stories for a school’s reading program, fiction and nonfiction articles for Clubhouse and Clubhouse Jr. magazines, The Declaration of Independence from A to Z, Thunder Comes a Rumblin’, Mosquitoes Infect!, plus various work-for-hire projects. A former elementary school librarian, Catherine is passionate about sharing the love of reading. She enjoys cartooning, illustration, and reading kids’ books. Email her at CLOsornio@verizon.net or visit her at www.catherineosornio.com.