SumShine Saturday~I mean, really...

"Why would someone sit, hour after hour tapping on a keyboard?"

  "How could someone possibly forget to eat?"

  "You just poured pasta in the sink--without a strainer.  Where is your mind?"

 And my favorite: "I mean really, who does that?"

 These are just a few questions my family directs my way.  (Except for the pasta, I switch that up with cereal in the fridge or milk in the cabinet.) Of course, they ask with a smile and a shake of the head. They are supportive of my writing, though they do not understand for a minute why anyone would spend hours writing only to rewrite it again … and again.  My drive is relentless and my family can see I am happiest when I write, so I guess they are supportive because they love me. Besides, it gives them time to boil more pasta.

Many nights, I kiss my kids and hubby goodnight with the intention of editing "just one chapter" before I go to bed.  With a cast-off Pooh Bear blanket about my shoulder, I begin--then I end up telling myself, I can't simply stop in the middle of an idea, I must rewrite that sentence or the famous just one more chapter.  In what seems a couple of  hours, the lilac patterns on my living room curtains brighten. Only then do I realize I stayed up all night. On mornings like that, my daughter asks, "I mean really, who does that?"

When I actually do go to bed, there are times I wake in the middle of the night, ideas formulating for dialogue, conflict or a twist in plot.  My husband caught me scribbling once and asked me what I was doing at three in the morning. I told him I had a great idea and had to write it down. He grinned, gave me a kiss and said he just got an idea too.  I wonder if he knows I incorporated his hot idea in my novel.

I mean really, who does that?

~*Summer Wench

photo by graur razvan ionut