Venturing Outside My Norm

I'm facing a dilemma.

Last week Bryce mentioned that he'd like to possess the mindset to write YA fiction. I always believed that was out of my loop. Then Roland chimes in and suggests that I give it a try. I might surprise myself. Thank you for your words of encouragement.

Well, okay. I'm strangely attracted to experimenting. It's the way I learn, so I considered it, just for a few minutes, never anticipating the outcome.

Enter Muse...

My mind became inundated with ideas. I couldn't hold back the flow. Then came Emily (Protagonist 1). She insisted on being a part of it, gave me her first and last name, screamed it into my head. With her, she brought a twin brother (Edward). They hinted that there were spare pages taking up room in my computer. They're filled with dialogue and plot just begging to be used, and they would be perfect for this, simple to convert them to YA fantasy.

"You're kidding," I said. "I don't have time for this."

Then she threw in the conflict, a proverbial apple. I gave in. I hopped out of the shower. (It's a great place to encourage the flow of ideas.) Next thing I knew I was sitting at my PC paging through the suggested draft. I'll be darned if she wasn't right.

I had two chapters sitting there of a discarded manuscript I was saving for later use. The way I outlined it saves room for about four books if I should choose to pursue YA. I played with it. When I was done, there it was, two polished chapters of YA fantasy.

Now, there's an even bigger problem.

I'm presently editing adult fantasy to get it ready for querying. I'm also working on plot for paranormal romance. I have a day job, family, other responsibilities. My day is vivisected to fit everyone into the equation. How in the world am I going to write this other book?

I could give up sleep, but that would just botch my creativity. I could give up working out and keel over from a heart attack. I could give up sex...not an option. I could give up showering...yuk. I could write it during breaks and lunch. Nope, that would interfere with my blogging time. Someone posted that they write in ten minute increments...not sufficient for me.

I couldn't possibly let the story go, not when it's so clear in my head. I've been tinkering with the idea of designating a couple of days a week just to focus on this story. Ugh, I hate multitasking. There never seems to be enough time for anything. I can sit in front of my PC, dive into a story and suddenly it's time for bed. That only goes to show that time is another big illusion.

Until tomorrow.