Writing the Great American Novel

I've always wanted to write a novel. I like to write. And I've certainly read enough fiction myself to find the notion of writing something BIG to be appealing. Not, maybe, the Great American Novel - just a modest commercial success would do. I love the simple business of putting words together to make something sound right; to express my thoughts with all the feelings and extras and flourishes needed to convey a whole and complete idea. (Well, maybe not. I had some trouble with that sentence...)

I think I even have a grasp - just from reading critically and analyzing what I read - of the elements that would need to be included. I can recognize a 'formula' when I see one in the novels I read. Surely I could identify an appropriate formula, follow it well enough, and still vary sufficiently from it, for success. I understand about conflict and character development and consistency. My vocabulary is sufficient to the task and so is my sentence structure and 'readability.' True, my spelling leaves something to be desired...

Surely at MY age I have enough 'life experience.' I've been places. I know some stuff. I've met Characters. (I'm married to one, for goodness sake!)

I once read that P.G. Wodehouse - one of the truly great masters of English-language writing - had a process of putting sentences down on separate pieces of paper and sticking them on a wall, low or high, depending on how he thought they conveyed what he wanted. They only reached the ceiling - and the actual story - when he considered them perfect.

My mother sent me an Encouraging Article about a now-famous writer who ended up with her best-selling novel after a friend suggested she just keep writing her short story "until it is done." That seems like good advice. But it assumes that you have a story in the first place.

I don't.

I have the time to write. I have the means and the opportunity. After 500 blog postings it seems clear that I have the curiosity and interest and quirkiness and dedication and passion and just the sheer persistence to do it.

So why can't I come up with an idea?

Disappointing, it is.