My manuscript for Yes Novel is currently with my editor. Perhaps it would make sense for me to work on the story I *believe* will be my third novel (Hair Novel), but I just can’t.

For me, writing a novel involves this full immersion into the world of the characters and the story: I live and breathe the details of their lives. Everything that happens to me in real life I view through the lens of my story. That is to say, if someone says something funny, I think immediately if I can incorporate it into my book; if a driver cuts me off, I wonder how my characters would react to the same situation; if I eat something delicious, I plan to serve it to my characters; if I enter an awesome room, I’m already translating it into an environment for my story. Basically everything.

It feels so impossible to rip myself out of the world of Yes Novel to try to dabble in the (very different) world of Hair Novel, if that makes any sense. I just find that I can’t do it. The energy needed to move between worlds is too tremendous.

I know there are a lot of authors who work on multiple projects at once. I wish I could! And maybe someday in the near future I will need to learn how to. But for now I’m comfortable with the fact that I’m situated so deep in a novel that it’s not worthwhile for me to take quick trips to the surface. So much effort!

Anyone else out there the same way?