This week I’ve been revising the last two chapters of my middle grade novel. And it’s consuming my life…well maybe only my thoughts but that’s pretty much the same thing. And so writing this week’s blog post has become a challenge.
You see when I’m stuck in my writing cave, I have trouble focusing on anything else. Sure I can go about my everyday life of working, taking care of the kids, folding laundry, grocery shopping and all that. It’s just that I’m basically going through the motions. My mind is definitely someplace else…
It’s stuck inside the fictional world of my story.
It’s not really a bad place to be. After all this time, I’ve grown to love the characters in this book. The good ones and the bad. I actually like hanging out in the pretend camp where they’ve spent most of their summer. I like listening to their conflicts and reading how their dramas have played out. And if it sounds like I’m a little strange, talking about my story as if it’s real, then maybe I am. That’s the only way I know how to revise. I need to jump into their world.
And so sometimes I feel like I’m in the writing cave. My thoughts are so focused on my story that it’s hard to think about other things- like what I’m going to post on the blog this week. And that’s why I’m writing about the writing cave. I wondered if any of you sneak into yours sometimes. Do you get so preoccupied (or obsessed) with your story that you think about it all day long. Do you think about it as you mindlessly brush your teeth in the morning? Do you think about it as you drive to work or as you make the beds?
In case you’re wondering, I may be stuck in this cave for the rest of the week. It will take me at least that long to get through the last chapter. When I emerge though, hopefully this manuscript will be better than when I crawled in! So wish me luck and maybe even send cookies. I may need them. Like Snickerdoodles. Yeah definitely Snickerdoodles. 🙂
swirl and spark 