I think I have coined a new psychological term today: Manuscript Withdrawal Syndrome (MWS). Symptoms include: irritability, boredom with all activities unrelated to current WIP or writing in general, fidgeting, short attention span, and impatience.
I have been tied up with stuff other than writing all day, and it’s been driving me insane! I got a lousy 38 words written this morning before the phone started ringing. Then we had to finish cleaning up the house because we had company coming. Then we got the ribs started on the smoker (DH and I had a cookout with my mom and his parents). Then my mother arrived shortly after 12:30. Then we made a run to Wendy’s for lunch, followed by a trip to hell (because Walmart on a Saturday in this tiny town is hell), and then a quick stop by DH’s grandmother’s for a visit. After that I had to get the ice cream started. And after that DH’s parents arrived. Between being social and visiting, I had to make one MORE run into town for ice. Upon my return from that the ice cream maker crapped out (so our tiny freezer is now full of 2 bags of ice we don’t have room for). Then came more visiting (during which there was an excessive amount of asinine conversation about televisions), followed by dinner, followed by more waiting on the ice cream to harden in the freezer, followed by ice cream soup (because of course homemade ice cream never hardens properly). Then my mother left, and DH’s parents stayed to watch Payback on HD DVD during which came most of the fidgeting and short attention span stuff because a) I have already seen the movie and b) I didn’t care for it all that much the first time.
So I have been away from my manuscript all day long and hating every minute of it. And it’s not even like I’m driven to complete a scene. I don’t have a clue what comes next chronologically in this chapter of HOC. I need one more scene before my next bad guy scene. But I was going absolutely mad because I’m not multi-talented enough to plot and be social at the same time. I’m sure it says something about my personality that I would rather spend my day hanging out in the heads of people I created than with family. I’ve also been missing my critique partner, who has also had family stuff going on today. It’s becoming very clear that we’re sort of co-dependent…
I’m off to reread my last scene and see if I can bulldoze through this mild case of writer’s block and get my words in for the day.