Ever since I've been on crutches, my main gripe was that I can't carry anything. While I was on two crutches, I carried my stuff in a backpack I use when I travel. Now that I'm somewhat more mobile, I wanted to use something easier to carry. I found my old briefcase from the tobacco company days, and emptied it out, and it works fine.

Now, all of that is the set up for this: I was storing some old stories that I'd written. One of them was "The Entellus Dilemma," in all is 80 page glory; complete with sub-plots I had forgotten about. But, since I wasn't going to rewrite the story, I trashed it. Also in the bag was an abortive novel based on my years working in a small grocery store. I called it "Let Me Out," after a Knack song by the same name. And yes, I realize I just dated both myself and this little novel.

I reread what I had written, and found myself intrigued by the idea again.

Crap!

A couple of days ago, thanks to the folks over at Lockergnome, I discovered a free mind mapping program called FreeMind. I spent a few hours thinking over the characters, plot and other ideas, and think I might have reimagined the novel well enough that I could actually write it! Or, at least, start it.