Problem-solving 101

My brain loves to solve problems. It’s pretty much what my brain was put on this earth to do. Let’s see, we have two chicken thighs, some leeks and a bit of white wine. What can we make out of that? How about braised chicken with creamy leek sauce? That’s basically my brain in heaven, right there.

And it’s a great thing when you’re writing a novel. Just chugging away in the background all the time, my brain is working on solving my book’s problems. How do these characters all end up in the car together? What is Lansing trying to hide? How does Evan find out? When I’m washing my hair, or out for a walk or slicing leeks, I am solving these problems.

But here’s my current problem: I am so deep into editing a book for someone else, my brain is busy solving that book’s problems instead of my own book’s problems. Which means the little flame of Fallsy Downsies is getting ever smaller. Which is not good. Gotta edit faster — and breathe sentences of my own onto Fallsy Downsies. Last week, Steven Bowers was in town, and I read him some scenes. He loved Homing so much he named an album after it, and some of his own experiences on the road suggested some of the material for Fallsy Downsies, so I’ve been really keen to share it with him. He seemed to love what I read him — and hearing those scenes out loud made me long to be back in that world. This time last year I was fully immersed. That mini-sabbatical can’t come soon enough — but meantime, I’m gonna have to build that fire on my own. So…I guess I’m off to write a scene right now. How’s that for problem solving?