I wrote some more for book 3 yesterday.  I hand-wrote about six pages on a small notepad that I normally use for grocery lists, not having a trusty spiral notebook at home, so it should come out to about a page and a half typed. It was an insightful look into one of the antagonists.

Then, this morning as I’m in the bathroom, you know…thinking, another completely different creative story comes to me. All different characters, an interesting and relative topic, new twists and turns, so many consequences to this one main character’s obsession to see his life’s work amount to something….Ooh, it’s so tempting. Where would it start? I would have to do research on that!

It’s like being happily married and you’re out with your spouse somewhere doing something relatively mundane, and a very attractive person of the opposite sex walks past you, gives you a sidelong, come-hither glance, and you are so captivated that your spouse has to physically accost you to get your attention.

Writing a book, like being happily married, requires commitment. Both are not going to be new and exciting all the time. Both need to be nurtured and paid attention to. Both can be a struggle to maintain and continue for the long haul. When anything worth while gets to a point where it becomes a challenge to continue forward, it’s easy to get distracted by new stuff. None of us are that far from the toddler whose attention can be swayed by a new toy.

It’s OK. Acknowledge the distraction. Glean from it what you will (“Look, Honey, your doppelganger just walked by”). Then get back to work. Nothing worth having is ever easy.

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