Otherwise engaged.

It has been nearly three weeks since I’ve spoken to Heather. Which is a long time, I’m sure you’ll agree. I had some other work to do. Some non-Heather related writing.

In the section on this website called Full Nest you’ll see that my mother and I write little articles back and forth as a coping mechanism for the time that we live together. The Mom has been nagging me to get my end of things shored up and I had neglected it for too long. Since I live with her and pay nothing in the way of rent, I felt it behooved me to at least finish up my half-finished articles. Which I have now done. Yeah!

Though I’m quite pleased with the articles themselves, the timing of the whole thing couldn’t have been worse. I think. I had just started to get a handle on Heather and all things stalker when The Mom decided the articles needed to be finished Right Now. (You have a mother, you understand how it is actually impossible to say no to them, right? This isn’t just me, is it?)

To be honest, I finished writing them five days ago. So for the past five days I’ve been looking at what I’ve written (just looking at it, now reading it) and wondering about jumping back in. It’s kind of like standing on the edge of a pool, lake, other body of water: you want to jump in, you know it’s going to be so nice, so refreshing, but you also know that initially it’s going to be quite the shock to the system and you’re not entirely sure you want to put yourself through it. That’s what I’ve been doing: standing on the edge of the pool, wondering how cold the water is exactly.

I think though that having taken a few weeks off has been good. I’ve been thinking about Heather and why she’s so desperate for fame/celebrity. It’s because that’s how we measure success these days.

The other thing I’ve been thinking about is the way the novel’s being written. Well, not the way in which it’s being written exactly, but it’s form. The books I’ve written in the past have been very quick, and story-boarded. They function like soap operas or serial TV shows, the focus never stays with one person (on one scene) for too long. But I think that might be different in this one. I think it might be a bit more leisurely. It’s more of a sense than anything like a firm thought, though, and knowing myself, I think it’s best I don’t dwell on this idea.

The important thing is to power through. Press onwards. Keep writing.