Sunday, July 3, 2011

My Crowded Mind

Not quite a year ago, I agreed to co-chair the local scifi convention, OSFest. I was already in charge of a couple departments for it, so how much more work could it entail? Consequently, I haven't had much time, the last couple weeks, to work on writing my stories.

This has happened before. And eventually, the characters in my head get lonely and find ways to come out for a visit. (Sometimes, I think my characters have more imagination than I do.) Watching the news about another section of I29 being closed due to flooding? Sidek reminds me how he first met Cali, rescued her from the flooding river. At the grocery store, choosing a roast for Sunday supper? A Schiss (Have I told you about the Schiss yet? They're an alien lizard race who are scheduled to make appearances in two (at least) of my science fiction universes ... some day.) A Schiss will start talking about how IT would serve a cooked piece of meat.

The longer I am too busy to write, the more these characters pop up to spend time with me. It's reached the point where I've started having trouble falling asleep at night, because EVERYBODY in my head wants to talk:

"Remember when we took on that troll, and found he had a witch and a human tied up in his cave?"

"How come you've never asked me how my boy friend managed to Send himself to follow me as I studied the enemy's abilities? He's not an Atlan, of course, but we think we've figured it out."

"PLEASE have Scott figure out a way to approach me without scaring me half to death!"

"I DID see all those things! I just couldn't figure out how to prove it. I most certainly was not being stupid!"

Imagine having stuff like that tromping through your head for 2-3 hours as you toss and turn, trying to imagine what 'black' looks like long enough to let you fall asleep. I hope I have enough energy left by the end of the convention to live through a writing marathon. I kind of think I'm going to be in one.

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