Come Selahway With Me…

Jessica Housand-Weaver is back today! She’s written a really fabulous guest post for us about making the best of those ever-present distractions while writing…not that any of us have that problem, riiiight? 😉

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Avoiding Eden: on writing and life’s little distractions

When I am writing, everything comes together for me. I forget the troubles of the day, time stops, and I am lost in this wonderful world of my choosing with all my favorite characters. Few things are as absorbing, obsessive, and fulfilling as writing–and yet, I find that all too often my mind does everything in its power to avoid doing it.

Maybe it is the intense energy required to sit there, stare, type, and dream while maintaining all the normal bodily functions of breathing, blinking, feeling. Life outside of writing is not always very engaging, but it is effortless. We exist. We think. We veg out. We experience. Writing is like existing in hyperdrive. We do all those things and more faster than the speed of thought. It takes a lot to get into the ‘mode’ to create entire Universes out of a screen and letters.

I love my family, but sometimes I feel like my family is the bane of my writing life. As soon as my one year old starts crying, the story dies, my brain recoils, and I exist again in the world, now aggravated that I have been pulled from my creating state. When I am a writer, I am god; when I am with my family, I am mom, nurse, butt-wiper, cook, counselor, maid, and love-slave (I couldn’t resist because my husband will hardly leave me alone long enough to write this–not that I’m complaining…much). It is difficult to juggle the responsibilities of ordinary life and the extraordinary drive to write. Like I said, I love my family and my kids are my whole world–unless you are talking about my writing world, which is a different thing altogether. I love my family but I love writing too. Sometimes it feels like there is not enough time to enjoy loving them both fairly.

It helps me to remember that my family is a type of muse as well. They give me new experiences and possibilities with which I can enrich my writing. When I watch my children and share in the newness of being young and curious about the world, it refills the well that is the heart of every writer. The passion and turmoil in my marriage builds powerful story love affairs. Every moment of the day, my family is taking part in the creation of my work with me. It is only in the quiet, alone, that I can peel apart all the layers and reveal it all on the page.

I have resorted to putting the kids to bed earlier and staying up later. Some of my best work is born out of the frustration of time and being a mere mortal in this life–as well as a lack of sleep. But I am greedy; to have my family and my writing to sustain me is an unparalleled joy.

So maybe it isn’t that we writers are avoiding our writing world Eden; maybe it is all part of the natural process of ideas maturing into writing; maybe we are just so frustrated about how we are too distracted to dream that we forget all this time we have been planting the trees and harvesting the fruit that makes our paradise great. We need to first live in our world, after all, in order to build one.

You can find my webpage at www.jessicahousand-weaver.com for current news and publication information. You can also view my Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Profile-of-a-Writer-Jessica-Housand-Weaver/128526107195188?ref=tn_tnmn .You can find my debut thriller, “The Scream of the Siren”, at http://mochamemoirspress.com/the-scream-of-the-siren/ or on Amazon or Omnilit.

Jen Hanover, depressed and reclusive after her husband’s suicide, finds her life changed forever when she meets a mysterious, brooding rebel named Alejandro. At first, he seems to be exactly what Jen needs. But things quickly spiral out of control as Alejandro reveals the frightening extent of his obsessive nature and violent past. Desperate to end the dangerous affair, Jen is determined to be free of him. Yet the more she tries to escape from Alejandro’s passionate clutches, the more threatening he becomes. The story unravels with heart-pounding suspense as Jen finds herself up against a criminal mind, far more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. In the end, Jen discovers not only the darkest truths about love and the human condition, but must also face the lurking demons within herself.