Day Six
10:35pm
I'm having a hard time balancing my writing life and my regular day-to-day life. Usually, this problem is very familiar and kind of expected, and I deal with it. But lately, this problem seems amplified by a million. There's a cruel balance between writing life and real life, and even though I know this I've seemed to lost the knack of getting it right.
The last time this happened to me, I was working on the final draft of my first completed novel. That was December of 09 and I started querying in February of 2010. I remember spending nine hour days working on that novel. I was writing in a bathroom at the time, sitting on the toilet with my laptop on a plastic hamper between my knees. I spent all day hunched over that hamper, breathing in my own stale air, lost in the words on the page and a dozen tea cups by my feet. I was as obsessed with my story and getting it done as I'd ever been.
I feel the same way now, like I'm more grounded in my story than in the real world. And if I could carve out nine free hours, I would spend them sitting in my hotel room with my back against a wall and my laptop on my knees, writing until I reached "The End."
This seems to be my process when I'm getting close to the end of a book.
So, my point is a question: When you're close to the finish line, does your writing process change, and if it does, does it conflict with your everyday life?
When I'm close to the finish line, I seem to do the opposite of you- I slow down. I'm scared, if I'm being completely honest. I don't want the story to end. I don't want to leave my characters alone...but then again, I want to see what happens next. Which is stupid, right? Because I'm the one writing the book, and I should know what happens next...haha, it's a confusing, never-ending cycle.
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