So, I'm a weirdo. Not that this is in any way news, just putting it out there. I often write more than one book at a time, though I my focus on one mainly and that is the one I will talk about if anyone asks me about my book or what I'm working on. When I admit that I write more than one thing at a time, I either get a knowing nod from someone else who does this too, or I get the head tilt to one side and the look that asks how that's possible and why anyone would ever do that to themselves. So, here's the reason: Because sometimes a scene hurts.
Every book has a point at which I don't want to look at my book or the characters for a long time because they ripped my heart out or someone had to die and I didn't want them to go. Or the thing I have written has touched a little too close to the painful memory I drew on to get the emotion right. Sometimes, okay, most of the time, the stone I squeeze to draw blood from is my own soul. Not that my soul is made of stone, but since I feel the emotions of my characters and live their story in my head and in my fingers and in my dreams as I write what they are going through, I just need a break sometimes.
It's like pausing a movie to breathe for a second before finishing it. Or like changing the channel to something funny because crying over a my go to show that is supposed to be funny, but the actor died or whatever reason, and I need to watch something else to just give my poor brain a break from intensity. Well, that's why I write more than one thing at a time. It's how I change the channel on what I'm writing and what I'm working on. It gives me a space to write without bleeding my soul dry. That's how I deal with the intensity of writing. What seems like a choatic thing to have in my brain swirl is actually way I deal with keeping the swirl from turning into a tornado.
And, just in case anyone is wondering, I wrote this blog post because my eyes ache from crying over a character I just killed off.