Bound by desire...

For the past two weeks I've been doing something I haven't done in two years...taking a vacation. Yes, you read that right. While I've gone away with family for weeks at a time, my trusty laptop has always gone with me. This time, however, I haven't gone anywhere...but I haven't written either. This has been the longest spell away from writing that I've taken since Ellora's Cave first accepted Secret Submission. It was needed, believe me.

There are always so many plots and characters vying for my attention, that taking time away from them has been unthinkable. I don't want to lose any of them who might pay a short visit before the Muses pull him or her away and give her or him to someone else. But I've found it difficult to focus these past few months, ever since Cabin Fever was put to bed. In the past 12 weeks I've started and abandoned no fewer than six stories. SIX! And not just a few paragraphs...I've written between 2 and 6K on some of these. Enough to start developing character and plot...enough to introduce conflict and desire!

And yet, each one loses focus...or at least, I lose focus and then the story stops spinning. So I decided, with the holidays approaching, that I would take some time off. Walk away and refresh. And that's exactly what I've been doing. Just enjoying my family, enjoying the bright lights, the shopping and the bustle, the quiet and the scents of church. Just enjoying life.

Today I went so far as to boot up my laptop. It still works. I love the Myst games and got both Myst V for Christmas as well as the soundtrack to the original Myst. While I answered emails and took care of business on the family computer, I listened to the sounds of Myst on my laptop. Didn't write...but have spent several hours today in someone else's world...puzzling out their secrets and learning their culture. Makes me think a fantasy of my own is in my future....

Rest assured, I am not stopping my writing career. I'm having way too much fun to stop. But this time was needed to "sharpen the saw" (thank you Stephen Covey!). Very soon I shall pick up that laptop, sort through the various beginnings I have vomited into files and see if there isn't something there that can be salvaged. If not, I'll start anew. Sort of fitting...a new year...and a new story.

Play safe,
Diana

PS. Ruth won first place in Annie's poll...congrats writing pardner! You're the greatest!!!

And I'm third, for those who wanted to know....LOL... I'll take the bronze!