Help, I’m Being Held Hostage By A Novel

For those of you who read Darkship Thieves, the novel is the sequel to it, and then there’s the sister of the sequel. So, you see, it is a serious threat.

This used to happen all the time. My kids started noticing signs and would say “uh, oh, mom is coming down with a novel.” It was the little things that gave it away – like the fact that mom only rushed out of the office to use the bathroom, then rushed back again, muttering, forgot to eat, sometimes answered them with sentences that made no sense. Or perhaps stumbled around the house with a vacant look, walked into things and said stuff like “but that ending won’t work” in the tone of voice of one in pain. Usually things stopped short of watering the cat and giving cat food to the plants, but there was the time when I went to the store with a frozen chicken under my arm, leaving the purse safely stowed in the freezer.

It’s been a long time since a novel took me this way. Most of the time these days, I can work nine to nine, then read a bit and go to bed, but there’s time for eating and cooking and cleaning. The only thing approaching that white hot rush has been the last two/three chapters, before the book closes.

But now Darkship Renegades and A Few Good Men (don’t yell) have taken me that way. I’m having trouble even reading short stuff – like … offers – which I need to read. I’m spacing out in the middle of conversations with the family. Today, I officially ran out of clean underwear, so I’d better do some before tomorrow.

What is it? Is it that the kids are finally old enough that I can concentrate on work without fearing they’ll burn down the house? Or is it these particular books?

I don’t know. I know posting here will be erratic – oh, every day, but don’t be surprised if it’s sometimes at midnight and sometimes at ten AM – and might sound about as coherent as giving cat food to a plant. But know this – I’m being held hostage by a novel and I’m having a GLORIOUS time. It’s like an altered state of vivid dreaming, but the writing is much easier when I’m like this.

The first one should be done – latest – by end of month. Second, G-d willing, late April. If I’m not out by then, send dogs and perhaps native guides!