Loving Chaos--or not!

This has been a totally weird few weeks for me. I was in New York for a conference and meeting with my agent and editor in the middle of March. I took my computer and actually managed to get some writing done on the first book in my new Demon Slayers series, which is due May 1. I got home to a kitchen that had been completely gutted in preparation for remodeling—only it was done a week ahead of schedule. No sink, no stove, no counters. Nothing. We were supposed to leave on a trip through the Southwest at the end of the week, but we left early because we couldn’t even make coffee! (Setting up Mr. Coffee in the bathroom somehow lacks the necessary ambiance for morning coffee...washing dishes in the same sink where you brush your teeth has a similar effect on the senses.)

Leaving early meant packing in a rush, which meant that once I got into the motorhome and we were on our way, I couldn’t find anything. That’s not all that big a deal, I guess, except the motorhome is ONLY twenty feet long—the size of your average club-cab pick up truck! There aren’t that many places to look, which meant I couldn’t find things because I FORGOT TO PACK THEM!

Whatever, we were on our way. At least I had my computer, so I sat in the back and wrote while my husband drove. I told him to take lots of pictures so I’d know where I’d been... The trip was wonderful in spite of my lack of preparation and I got to meet a lot of my readers at bookstores along the way. I don’t do regular signings, but instead set up “appointments” to meet readers I’ve met through my newsletter. I tell them where our trip will take us and they let me know if there are any bookstores along the way where we can meet. It works great and means I have time to sit and chat and actually get to know people. Since I don’t get out much, this is the best way in the world to actually have some semblance of a social life, and I have great readers. Every single person I’ve met this way is someone I’d call a friend under any circumstances. They’re great, but I digress...

When we got home, I still had both an unfinished manuscript and an unfinished kitchen, though within just a few days we had a sink and a stove, and then counter tops and floors and all the things that make up a workable room, and I’d managed many more pages on my book. On Tuesday the last worker left after finishing the last bit of trim and hanging the final cabinet doors, and I reached the point in my manuscript where I can start thinking about how the story will end.

And that’s when it hit me. As much as I grumble about deadlines and upheaval in my life and things not going according to plan, I love ever minute of the chaos! My kitchen is finished and it’s back to cooking and doing dishes and, while I love the new look and the wonderful appliances (A stove that actually works? Such a concept!) it’s now just a kitchen. But the book’s not done. I’m still searching for the perfect finish to a story that’s taken me places I had no idea I’d travel and I find myself writing until well after midnight and jumping out of bed at five in the morning, anxious to get started on the story once again.

This is why I love what I do—there’s a sense of wonder when the words come. There’s joy in the chaos of creation and exhausted exhilaration when the last few paragraphs finally come together ‘just so.’ And it made me wonder if I’m alone in loving all of this uncertainty, if I can even call it that. I have a schedule—that’s what deadlines are for—and while I bitch and moan about struggling to stay within that schedule, everything that happens between the lines is total anarchy, disorder and confusion, and I love it! The characters are in charge, which is like having the patients running the asylum, but then, somehow and some way, it all comes together at the end, and it gives me a great sense of joy.

So how do you work? Do you follow a recipe? Is your life organized and together, or do you throw it all into a big pot, stir to get the flavors mixed and then hope it turns into soup? And if it doesn’t and you end up with something else entirely, do you adjust or panic? And sorry about mixing the metaphors, but today is just that sort of day. I’ve had my seven year old grandson visiting, which means that, rather than Luca acting grown-up with his grandfather, Bompa is now acting seven and I’ve had two little kids underfoot. And a deadline. And as always, it’s all coming together in a wonderful, chaotic way.

Here’s the kitchen from start to finish:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87458&id=617301038&l=e25810408c

I’ll post some of the new book next time I blog.