Recluse: One who lives in seclusion. At what point does writing become a bad habit?
I have been in a world all my own lately. The day job keeps me busy during the day and then at night I am back at my keys. Not blogging, not Facebooking, well...maybe a little Tweeting, but writing. On the weekends, I wake up and I start writing. If left to my own devices I will write all day. My husband even complained this past Friday, when I had an unexpected snow day, that I ignored him all day. I wrote for twelve hours.
Of course you would think I am making excellent progress with all that writing. I am, sort of. In the midst of deep revisioning of DISTILLATION, I am losing myself, but checking myself, much more deliberate this time in making sure I am telling the right story. I go for a while, then I hit a road block, realizing I am painting the wrong picture, or not focusing on the right thing, and then I have to go back and think, rewrite, edit, and think some more. It is grueling, but exhilarating.
The problem is that I am starting to neglect my other duties. Vacuum? Never heard of it. Go out to a ladies night? Well, I would but I've been writing all day and (and since most of my friends just give me the blank stare when I talk about writing), I think I'll just take a bath and think about what I wrote today.
Same goes for visits to family. I could have gone over the last vacation to hang out with my sister, but instead I needed to make sure I got some writing done. I do have a deadline after all with the upcoming conference.
It's not like I don't do anything else, but the weekends are full of writing and it is hard to even think about what else has to get done. I tell myself I'll do it during the week, and then the week is so busy with teaching that those things get put off again. And the next weekend I can't even remember them because I am lost in my fictional world.
Do you lock yourself away? At what point does the writing become too encompassing? Is this a healthy thing? I am willing to bet that it is a good thing as long as it doesn't go on too long. Eventually I come out and say hello to the world. Which is what I am doing right now. Hello world.
There's nothing wrong with what you're doing. As a matter of fact, I did the same thing until I finished and began querying my last book, which coincidentally coincided with the first day of spring. Down here in NC it was 70 degrees all weekend.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing wrong with what you're doing for now. You still have snow and cold up there. But as soon as the weather breaks you really need to take a break whether you want to write or not.
Holing up for the winter is what we do (especially us New Englanders) but once spring has sprung its time to get out and be social again. Friends will understand.
I do this sometimes, for a few weeks, and then I realize I am missing all the time with family and friends and that the house is even more of a disaster than usual and take a break. I still think about writing, but it's really healthy to back off now and then.
ReplyDeleteBut you'll know when you need to do that. If you are still totally immersed, swim. :)