The Part Where I Think I’m Crazy…

I’ve been working on the same manuscript for the last 18 months or so.

The story comes and goes in spurts – it’s either feast or famine.

Weeks where the words would pour out of me; into notebooks, word docs, abbreviated notes on my iPhone.

 I couldn’t get the words down fast enough.

I’ve also had weeks and months go past where the story is just stuck in my mind. I try to write past it, to break down that mental wall.

The results have inevitably been crap.

Pages that don’t flow with the prior chapters.

Characters suddenly acting out of personality.

Unfortunately, I’ve been in the famine arena for the last few months.

Since November, to be exact.

Yes, that would be the November where I planned to finish my first draft.

The part where I think I’m going crazy?

I’ve had a brand new story swirling in my mind for the last few weeks.

I’ve been trying to ward it off, push it back in the corner to continue to grow on its own while I finish my current work-in-progress.

Too bad it’s not having any of that nonsense.

I can’t get it out of my mind.

While I drive to and from work.

While I run.

While I drift off to sleep and wake up in the morning.

It’s always there…pounding on the door and making my fingers twitchy.

It’s begging to be written down. To be set free.

I have to be crazy to set aside my 18 month in progress manuscript.

There’s no other explanation.

But I have to do it.

I have to set this new story free before it recedes into the dark corners of my mind, never to be heard from again.