word magicI’m glad class work this week wasn’t as time-consuming as normal, because between stubbornly stuffy sinuses and betrayal by mattress, my brain has been working at half-power, distracted by poor sleep and pressure enough I thought Tuesday my head my actually implode. I’ve allowed myself the small reprieve of adding a minimum of 100 words to Blood to Fire, but that puts me even further behind the eight ball on my NaNoWriMo aspirations.

So I’m posting a picture that struck my fancy from Facebook, hoping to spark that magical sense of words flowing effortlessly from the ether onto my virtual pages.

Speaking of which, I saw a fascinating piece of reporting from Discovery News tonight, about psychologists studying psychography. Having had a grandmother who was able to channel this way, and having been fascinated by the process since I was about 12 (I spent an inordinate amount of time with my eyes closed with a pen hovering over a blank sheet of paper for a year or two before figuring out that wasn’t going to work for me), I find it interesting that science is dipping its toes into a world more typically debunked than studied.

My mom (whose mother was the channeler) keeps asking whether I am channeling my own stories. When they are flowing easily, I would be hard-pressed to say no. How else do words get generated in a coherent way in support of a story arc? Yet, I am aware of my surroundings, and am conscious of word choice as well as picky about the directions in which my characters want to hare off, so I can’t say it’s as automatic as what that kind of psychic does. It’s an interesting question, though: How close are experienced story-tellers to channeling when characters spring fully fledged into their consciousnesses, insisting that their story be told?

What do you think?

I’ll be crossing my fingers this week that I can find that flow again during my highly anticipated stay-cation over the Thanksgiving holiday. If I can manage at least 6,000 words per day for those 5 days, I’ll be able to get ahead and at least finish one of the two books I had planned on writing this November. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out the ROW80 participants to see how they’re dealing with their goals.

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