Listening to the Pleas of Echoes

Two weeks. I have two weeks left in my month away from EGB's manuscript. And I'm finally starting to take what may turn out to be some excellent advice.

On Backspace two weeks ago I asked my friends and fellow pen-wielders what I should work on during this vacation from my beloved Vlad. Several (okay...the majority) offered the sage advice that I shouldn't write. Impossible, I thought. Because I know me and when I don't write I get very grouchy, virtually impossible to live with and tension headaches. But it's funny how the Universe works when it's trying to nudge you in a certain direction.

Yesterday, as I was stressing out over a particular passage from Rapture, my husband said to me, "Have you thought of not writing for the next two weeks?"

"Impossible," I said. But then, over the next twenty minutes, we got into a discussion about the popular YA books out there and how much I would benefit from reading them. Two weeks could prove plenty of time for me to pour over them, learn exactly why they're so good, figure out what Vlad may be missing before I return to him.

So I've laid aside my concerns and last night, picked up the first copy of Harry Potter (which, I confess, I've never read--I started in at the third book) and read several chapters. Doing so taught me something: sometimes you have to take advice, no matter your reasons for resisting it. Because it can turn out to be very wise.

And to all my friends at Backspace, thank you. I'm going to go read now.