Before you hit send

No writing advice this in case the title misleads you. Just sharing what happened before I got to the stage of hitting 'send'. 

Anyone who's written a full manuscript would have faced some amount of headache. When you sit down to write, it seems like a mountain. The good thing is you discover it can be broken up in small daily portions and munched comfortably. So you plan. If you set yourself goals, the stress increases. Well, some of it is good stress because it keeps you on the track. But some... suffice to say, it can really give you hypertension with the adrenaline racing through your body in case you don't 'make' it. Take my advice, don't make realistic goals. Make verrryyyy comfortable goals. This is from one who's been there.

So here's how it has minced along.

First, the upsets in the daily routine. Not that they are meant to be there. I have it planned I won't let writing interfere with anyone's time of me - if you know what I mean. No takeaways will be needed. Food will be cooked and ready at meal times. Laundry tended. But somehow characters begin to occupy more time than  I have allotted them. I'm getting complaints of you don't listen, mom. And angry retorts like yes, I did tell you about my test tomorrow. Weren't you listening? I can neither confirm nor deny. Have I been talking in my head to my H/h? Or more correctly hearing them talk? And missed hearing kids? *groan*

Then come more moments of the Inconvenient Muse. Staring at the boiling water till you suddenly realise you're supposed to be putting noodles in there, not stand planning out the dialogue you left unfinished when you couldn't get your brain cells to work at the keyboard.

Hubby's patience wearing thin because of kids' constant grumbles and the H/h black moment nearly becoming your own. Everyone getting sick of no outings, which I'm too stuffed with my story to think of organizing. Also I'm missing shared jokes and things because although physically present, I'm sometimes catching up on FB and twitter during family time. *hangs head in shame.*

Forgetting that I'm busy for myself and flying off the handle a few times. *oops* 

Then at last, the moment of light. Dun dun n dun. The lifting of dark cloud. End is in sight.

Everyone gets to see a more cheerful me. I even make kids favorite cheese dish to relax myself and appease them.

Finally, finally the much awaited day, when I hit 'send'. *crazy dance*. I make kids banana shake to celebrate and send out for chocolate. Hubby heaves a sigh of relief.

Whew! *mops forehead*

So how was your ride before you hit send? Smooth sailing or something like I went through? What about the multi-published authors? Do you still get butterflies in tummy before you hit send or is it just another day?

Would love to hear from you! :)

The Inconvenient Muse

Writers often struggle with that slippery customer, writer's muse. Mostly the problem is in pinning it down. Well, I have been hard at work trying to put down the first three chapters of my Passions book. I call it that after the name of the contest Mills and Boon India hosted and also because it is that for me...a passion. Though the amount of mental and even more psychological energy being expended - in seesawing the ever threatening question of Will It Be - makes for the more appropriate term 'obsession'. Anyway, to get back to the point, during this I have discovered how inconvenient my Muse has become. After wasting away precious keyboard minutes in jabbing away words I know can't be exciting to the reader since they sound flat to me, I give up and go start on lunch. Only to find that suddenly the situation I was head banging is crystal clear, the hero who had been mouthing dialogues like my recalcitrant son at lunch when he doesn't get his favourite meal, is now really talking as though he means it, all in my head, the heroine is whizzing away on her emotional stream, a stream made up of perfectly tailored words. Maybe it's because the stress of thinking is gone or that having your hands busy allows your mind to wander off on its own path. But the problem is, instead of tapping keys, my fingers are closed around the spatula. How tough it is only if you're a writer you can imagine! Out of desperation, I grab the nearest thing, my phone and starting qwertying the lines, only they've faded a little and takes me a bit of thinking to remember, what did he say after she said this?oh bother! And then the ominous sound of sizzling vegetables reminding me of where I am. Scratch the typing, I have a family to feed and a charred meal will not make for happy smiles.
Ah such are the trails of an inconvenient muse!


What about you? Do you wrestle with this inconsistent entity? Have you ever thought of the perfect scene then not remember a word when you started to type? Do share your thoughts, I'd love to know!

Have a great week! :)