Mom? Mom! MOM, CAN YOU HEAR ME?

Sadly, I’m not standing across the room. I’m sitting at the dinner table, supposedly in conversation with my family. But they’ve said something, a snippet of dialogue or an event, a question – something that has jolted me out of conversation, and caused what my children call my Thought Blanket to sneak up and grab me. It pulls me under, and pretty soon I’m caught in a story.

I feel like there should be a Calvin and Hobbes comic about a Blanket that sneaks up on Calvin and grabs him, pulls him under, because that’s what it’s like, isn’t it? One second you’re perfectly well engaged in the world, the next you’re caught in a scene, wondering if you’ve given your child permission to go on a field trip to Chicago as you nod blankly at them.

Don’t Panic. I have a remedy to those moments when the Thought Blanket attacks….

Stop. Drop. Roll.

You laugh, but it works. And it’s pulled me out of many precarious “did I just hand my teenager the car keys?” situations.

When a thought sneaks up on you…STOP. Seriously, turn off the heat on the stove, or pull over, or even hit pause on the TiVo. The people in your life will get used to this little quirk, and they’ll like you better for it, because it will save on hours of therapy as you say, “You never told me that!” and they swear up and down that you not only heard, but nodded. So, STOP.

Then, DROP. Grab a notebook (you DO have notebooks stashed all over the place, right? Next to your bed, on the dash of your car, in the kitchen, next to the television…in the uh…thinking room?). DROP that little gem of an idea onto the page. Two words, or maybe a sentence, but just enough to remember that priceless thought.

Then, ROLL. Let the thought, the stress, the fear of losing the idea roll off you. Break free of the pull of the Thought Blanket. Because, you’ve captured your thought! And you are no longer in danger of getting sucked under. Rejoin the conversation. Ask for clarification if you missed something. Nod with full comprehension.

Stop. Drop. Roll. Not just for putting out fires. Or maybe that’s exactly what it’s for. *grin*

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“Ask the Doc!”

We at Book Therapy care about your WIP, and its problems…

We know that getting along with your characters can be a challenge. They’re moody, or introverted, or maybe they simply don’t want to cooperate with your plot. Worse, sometimes they refuse to come out and play! We understand…and want to help!! Here’s your chance to get real advice from book doctors trained to help you fix your fiction.

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Winners will be announced in My Book Therapy at the end of the month!