We had houseguests during the first half of last week, which, as my daughter perfectly phrased it, "Is such a special treat!"And it was.
Especially the part where the kids set their alarms for 6:00 AM so they could get in a solid hour of Make-up Chase and Darkness Mob in the basement before they had to get ready for school.
Fun Times! No seriously, it was fun.
In the middle of refereeing games of Make-up Chase and handing out ice packs for Darkness Mob (haven't played it, don't know the rules, but it involves lights outs, a large size dog crate and is more dangerous than hockey) I received an email from Agent Emily telling me the book is so very, very close to being ready to go out on submission, but still, a few more tweaks were needed.
In a manic moment, I decided the tweaks really weren't that substantial and "absolutely, no problem, could get them done by Friday."
It's funny how tweaks always look smaller in an email than they do when you're combing through the four hundred plus pages of your book.
The first one, as I hinted at above, was easy. I love a good noun-adjective combination. They're a crutch that makes it easy to paint a quick picture. Agent Emily wanted them gone. I complied.
It was the other tweaks that turned me, like a seasonally appropriate house decoration, from writer mommy into writer-scary and created conversations like the following.
"Mom, can I just sit on the couch next to you and watch you write?"
"No, you can not. I'm WORKING."
"I'll be quiet."
"I can hear you breathing. You HAVE TO LEAVE."
Writer-scary is probably the downside of having a writer mom. The upside is I made monster brownies this weekend to soften the blow of having to live with a temporary monster writer.
What about you?
How are your Halloween plans shaping up? Do you turn into a monster when you have a deadline?
14 comments:
Hope you can get through the rest of the edits. I wouldn't want someone watching me write either.
Ha! My poor hubby lives with writer-scary me and manages to somehow survive, though I don't know how. But when it gets tough, remember we are all rooting for you, from way far away on the west coast.
My husband meets the scary writer just by entering my office.
Alex, I hit send on Friday :)
Connie, thank you. I heart my writer-cheerleaders.
Diane, Uh, yeah, sometimes my husband meets that person too (and immediately turns around and runs)!!
Ha! That is so WRITE ON!
Scary Writer lives inside us all. Mine sometimes pops out when least expected. Or wanted.
I totally get the 'I hear you breathing' part.
LOL the pic at the bottom kind of looks like me when I'm trying to work on my WIP and getting nowhere.
I don't really turn into a monster, unless being a were-cat counts.
See I just move away to quiet, often small places, and don't respond when someone calls. ;-)
I feel your pain about editing and know how you feel when you need to be 'alone' and can't. On the upside, it always manages to workout out somehow. Good luck!
I can't imagine having writing deadlines imposed by someone else. It would turn me monstrous and social media scarce.
Good luck and happy Halloween, Johanna.
xoRobyn
I turn into a monster when I go to a restaurant and they only have Pepsi instead of Coke. Funny post, by the way! And good for you for working out the tweaks.
Been there! When I'm drafting, I'm a demon. Somehow my children survive. Glad you're making progress!
My kids are out of school this week. Fall break. Imagine the amount of work I'm not doing.
heh
Considering Nano is coming up, I will be heinous to my children. I will probably shut my office door and not come out for anything. Of course when I do my house will probably be a disaster and that's a whole different scary mom they will have to deal with...
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