Crafting a believable backstory is the hardest part for me.  My brain refuses to make the traverse from spirited high school cheerleader turned snarky high school teacher without the words sounding forced.  It sounds like I’m trying too hard and getting lost along the way.  Sometimes getting lost creates the most beautifully unexpected stories.  

Last night, beautifully unexpected story was not what I got.  The editor called at eight a.m. sharp.

“How’s the story coming along?” she asked.

“Good,” I replied.

“I didn’t receive an email from you,” she said.

“I didn’t send one,” I said.

She does not respond.

“I mean, I have a draft to send, but it’s just,” I said.

“Your deadline was midnight,” she said.

“I can send it by noon,” I said.

She does not respond.

“I’ll send it as soon as I can.  Definitely before noon,” I said.

She does not respond.  She does end the call.

My morning somehow seems bleaker, as if losing sleep worried about this call wasn’t enough.  But I’m stuck with an unbelievable backstory.  How did the cheerleader decide to become a teacher?  Maybe she loves being involved in school activities and the feelings of team spirit.  Boring.  Maybe she loves kids, but is nowhere near ready for kids of her own.  Cliche.  Maybe she loves young men.  Now there’s a twist.  But writing a featured article for Teachers Appreciation Week in Parent magazine about the pedophile ex-cheerleading teacher seems like a bad call.  I could let the editor decide.

In three hours and change, I need to have this figured out.  Fifteen hundred words, give or take, depending on the length of the dialogue.  Dialogue.  Dialogue will buy me less words if I can come up with a few clever exchanges.  Desperate older male teacher offering ex-cheerleader painfully obvious advice in hopes of a connection.  Gossipy female coworker over-sharing about relationship issues during ex-cheerleader’s only free period.  I can drag those out for sure and turn ex-cheerleader into a lovably snarky high school teacher worthy of Teachers Appreciation Week praise.  Boom.  

Now about that backstory.