In Erika's Dreams, For Writers

My manuscript, query letter, and synopsis are due to my book doctor in a matter of days which means only one thing: I’ve become completely and utterly whipped by my WIP (work in progress). Our relationship (my WIP’s and mine) started out healthy, a date each morning before work, some weekend get togethers and so on. But lately things have spiraled out of control and it seems like my WIP is demanding my love and attention every free minute of every day. It’s bordering on unhealthy, I realize this, but thankfully it’s almost over.

Worried that you might be WIPped too? Here are 10 signs to be on the look out for:

  1. You see nothing wrong with bringing your 400 page manuscript to your spouse’s birthday dinner because, even though you don’t plan on actually reading it during dinner (that would be rude), the car ride to and from the restaurant = valuable reading time.
  2. In the debate between spending your time cleaning the house and grocery shopping vs. starving in your own filth and spending that extra time with your WIP, you embrace filthy starvation.
  3. You wake up in the middle of the night with a plot problem all figured out.
  4. You find manuscript pages in random places (your glove box, your gym bag, under your pillow).
  5. Your fingers are covered in papercuts and/or there are actual drops of blood on your pages.
  6. Your vision is beginning to deteriorate in your right eye.
  7. Outburts of hysterical laughter and hysterical sobbing occur out of the blue and for no real reason.
  8. You refer to yourself and your manuscript as “we.”
  9. Your words have started running together like you’ve just stumbled home from the bar. (In the last 24 hours I’ve written ringer (that’s ring finger), quetter (query letter) and in the last 30 seconds: humbled (that’s stumbled home). And no, Captain Morgan was not involved in any of this.
  10. And finally, your concept of time has become so skewed that you wake up in a panic on Saturday mornings and think it’s Wednesday when really it’s Sunday.

Anyone else out there WIPped? What crazy things have you experienced?

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Showing 9 comments
  • jeffwidmer

    If your book is as good as this post, you’ve got a winner.

    • Erika Liodice

      Aaaaaw…thanks, Jeff!

  • Joanne

    Oh, sure signs indeed. Especially those instances of finding “valuable time” on car rides and such. So true. You’ve got it bad, but sometimes it is a fun place to be! (Okay only a true writer would think, and say, that!)

    • Erika Liodice

      So true, Joanne. I’m not sure what I’ll do once I finally send it off. I’ll probably find myself nursing a broken heart 🙂

  • Linda

    Funny!! My husband just finished a book and it seems to be me reading it on the way to our birthday dinners. And yes, I’m getting jealous of his midnight rendevous with the “other woman”–his book and his letters to potential agents and publishers. 😉

    • Erika Liodice

      My husband has officially reached that place too, Linda. The other day he asked, “Are you going to hang out with me one of these weekends?” I guess that’s sign #11 😉

  • Meika

    I haven’t gotten to the carrying around my manuscript stage yet, but it’s quickly approaching! Soon, we’ll be inseparable and my fiancee will have fits of jealousy. Oh, the life of a writer…

    Awesome post!

    • Erika Liodice

      Meika, my one word of advice to you is: get a big purse 🙂

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