Rattled Brains and Broken Things

Pleiades:  You're going to lose your mind.

Me:  (Looking up from my writing.)  No I'm not.

Pleiades:  Please.  I've never seen anyone try to write so many different things at once without losing their minds.  Your brain is toast.  I think I can smell it burning from here.

Me:  You really think you're funny, don't you?

Pleiades:  Well, I know I am, but that's hardly the issue we're supposed to be dealing with here.

Me:  I just have a lot I need to get done.  Especially if my computer is going to break on me.  Once it does, it'll be that much more difficult to get everything finished.

Pleiades:  Look, I understand your motivation, but that doesn't change the fact that those marbles in your head are going to burst out of your ears like popcorn. Then everyone around you will have to duck and cover to avoid getting hurt.

Me:  Oh, everyone else will be safe.  You'll be the first on my hit list.

Pleiades:  Then who'll be around to inspire you?  You're nothing without me. Remember that.

She has one important thing right.  My head is packed full of stuff, and it's impossible to write fast enough to get it all out.  That was especially evident to me after last week, when I churned out three pieces of flash fiction while also trying to work on my short story collection.  Having that many narratives playing out between my ears at once is just as bad as listening to my kids yell at each other over who gets to play with the noisiest toy in the house.

My laptop also sort of broke last week.  It still works, don't get me wrong.  One of the hinges snapped and is currently poking out of the case.  Now it's stuck there, so my laptop screen is sitting at an unnerving slant, and I'm terrified of trying to move the hinge back into place for fear I'll accidentally slice through a crucial wire.  It'll be months before I can afford to get a new laptop, so I have to make this one last as long as possible.

Of course, there's still the desktop, so this computer going to pieces isn't the worst thing that could happen.  I should be able to keep up with my blogging without a problem.  My issue will be with my WIP. I spend the most time working on that while my husband is on the other computer.  If this laptop breaks, I'll have to rethink my writing strategy for my other projects.

Image courtesy of Simon Howden
@ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This isn't the first time I've written on a broken laptop though.  At one point after my oldest was born, I had a laptop without a working monitor.  We simply hooked a desktop monitor to it, and added a keyboard and mouse to it so it was a functional desktop computer.  In my house, we find ways to make our defective technology work for us.  I won't let this problem get in the way of what I want to do. Even if I have to write things by hand so I can type them out extra quickly on my husband's computer when I get the chance, I'll make it work.  No power in this world can stop me.

Except a lack of coffee.  That would be a true disaster.