Thursday, August 03, 2006

Head Space...How novel!

I haven't had a great deal of time to write since having my little one (who is now almost 2 1/2)
I have found myself unable to dedicate the necessary head space to concentrate on a novel length text.

Every minute of every day is consumed by whether he is hungry or thirsty or hot, cold, tired, safe, happy, playing, bored.....And the list goes on. But don't get me wrong, I would rather spend time with him and protect his wellbeing than anything, it is just that I have discovered that caring for a young child is much more, consuming than writing a novel.

To write, I need time to meditate on the the plot - the murders, the nuances of a characters behavior.
Before my son was born, I would lay out the sun on the banana chair and close my eyes and pace through the scenes in my head, I didn't know at the time what a luxury that was!

This afternoon however, I lay down for a little while he was having a sleep, and cuddled him.
(Which I often do)
But for the first time in ages I was able to really concentrate and think about the text in that same meditative state that I use to. I felt like I had got more work done in an hour than I had got done in months!!
He was quiet, still and safe and if I fell asleep I felt confident that I was there if he woke and I didn't even have make sure I was on time to pick him up from someone, it was really lovely and
what a sublime way to get a whole lot of work done!

2 comments:

the stripey tiger said...

Ahh - hope you get more of that! ;-)

tigerlou said...

That sounds sublime. Looking forward to reading the draft of the new story lines.