I recently decided to edit a book I was soooo certain I’d abandoned two thirds of the way through. I have a couple of books like that – or half books, left on the side of the road when something brighter and shinier appeared. It’s a bad habit, letting good books die for no reason other than they’d dragged on for too long. Or I’d been lazy and didn’t give them the attention they deserved. I’m convinced I write better and finish more projects when I’m in a NaNo/Book of the Month frame of mind.
Which I must have been with this particular book. You know what? I’d finished it. Oh, the corners were rough and there were a lot of xxxx’s that needed to be filled in, but the book was done. “The End” was typed. Finished.
Except –
I don’t remember writing it. The last twenty pages are a blank in my mind. My critique partner, Mary, says I was in the groove, and I must have been. I’ve read it again and still have no recollection of typing those words.
This has happened before, but on a much smaller scale. I’ve run across a phrase, a joke, a bit of brilliant dialogue and thought “That’s pretty damn good”, but I don’t remember not remembering writing a whole chapter or more.
It’s disconcerting. I think I have writing amnesia.
Is there a cure?
Best to you,
Cheryl
by 