WIPs and Chains

The Muse found me this past Tuesday.

I was folding laundry, yesterday, when an idea hit me.

I ignored it. See, I already have a novel and a novella in the works.

"Hahaha!" Said I, "Take that, silly Muse!"

"Bitch, please," said The Muse.

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Five minutes later I found myself In The Zone writing the first five thousands words to a new WiP.

I haven't read over it, yet, so while I know what has happened and have a general idea of what will happen, I don't quite remember the specifics, lol.

So today's post is about WiPs and the chains that bind you to them. All of them. Each and every one as they solidify and take form.

And The Muse- the coy, devilish woman that she is- insists on appearing when we are least able to handle her.

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I'm knee deep in both WiPs, you see. One is a short story that's making me pull my hair out (I'm not efficient in anything, let alone writing) and the other is my novel (see shameless plug: my excerpts) that I'm working very hard on and quite enjoying, actually.

So why, oh why does the Muse have to bother me, now?

The thing is:

I have the memory of a goldfish. I have to completely flesh out a book in order to remember what I was thinking.

So now I have three WiPs. They all need attention. It's like having triplets, only.. I gain the weight AFTER they're here, *I* am the one forcing me up in the middle of the night, and my husband can still get some. Sometimes. When I'm not writing. Or hungry. Or thinking about writing. You get the idea.

I feel schizophrenic enough as it is with these weird people (read: characters) in my head.. now I have three whole universes. I'm either super smart or super insane. I may be both. It's not unrealistic to say I'm both.

But I have to write them. I have to. I hear the words to their stories as I drive. No joke. Seriously. Totally not going poetic on you.

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I was driving on the freeway, today, and it occurred to me how it "felt" to be driving. The scents, the feel, the sounds, the people around me, the other cars, folks who would likely never touch my life again, but for that quick moment in time, we were next to each other on the freeway.

And then it became part of the story.

Which story? All of them. Insane, right? Talk about multi-tasking!

So now the question is.. what to do .. what to do...

As it stands, I'm sort of rationing my attention amongst my "literary children" and none of them are too pleased about it.

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I wrote a heart-wrenching scene in one of them, today. The story is pleased. My other two stories are glaring at me balefully. I figure I'm just never going to win, anyway, so to just keep on keepin' on.

Most folks seem to take down notes of their ideas and can return to their main projects. Me? Naaaah, I'm WAY too ADD for that.

So here's to hoping that juggling three WiPs is enough activity to keep my attention bouncing contentedly between them!

I don't know if I could handle a menage a quatre!