Itchy Brain
After a week or three of heavy revising, I develop a condition I call Itchy Brain Syndrome. It's like the editing side of my brain switches off, and a torrent of fresh ideas pour out from my right brain. Fiction, nonfiction, whatever. It's as though some part of my mind is saying, "Please, for the love of all that is holy, give the novel a rest and work on something new and creative for a few days."
Maybe it's a natural defense system to keep my brain from going into full overload. I dunno. All I know is that in the past two days, Itchy Brain Syndrome has kicked in with vigor. I began work on a magazine article and wrote up a query for said article, and have short story idea from a few months ago that's demanding attention like a cat with an empty food bowl at 3AM.
The rational side of my brain doesn't like this. "I want to finish this draft of NORMAL before being pulled apart by other projects. I want this done within a month. I'm halfway. I can do this if I'm not distracted."
The response from the right brain? "FEED ME WRITE ME FEED ME WRITE ME PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE."
I obviously already caved to some degree in starting the article project. I've pressed on with the Normal draft and am halfway through chapter 15. 60,000 words. But that short story is getting really needy and loud and I don't know how long I can hold a pillow over my head.
Anyone else deal with Itchy Brain Syndrome? How do you cope?
Maybe it's a natural defense system to keep my brain from going into full overload. I dunno. All I know is that in the past two days, Itchy Brain Syndrome has kicked in with vigor. I began work on a magazine article and wrote up a query for said article, and have short story idea from a few months ago that's demanding attention like a cat with an empty food bowl at 3AM.
The rational side of my brain doesn't like this. "I want to finish this draft of NORMAL before being pulled apart by other projects. I want this done within a month. I'm halfway. I can do this if I'm not distracted."
The response from the right brain? "FEED ME WRITE ME FEED ME WRITE ME PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE."
I obviously already caved to some degree in starting the article project. I've pressed on with the Normal draft and am halfway through chapter 15. 60,000 words. But that short story is getting really needy and loud and I don't know how long I can hold a pillow over my head.
Anyone else deal with Itchy Brain Syndrome? How do you cope?