Obsession

Hang around me long enough and you realize I tend to be a tad on the obsessive side. Usually, the obsession revolves around teaching (hey, what can I say? I'm passionate about my chosen career!), my Monsters and writing. Or rather, it used to revolve around writing. The well has been quite dry lately, and I must admit I've been most worried.

Except I think I figured out why.

And you're gonna laugh.

My waters of creativity are being siphoned.

I figured that out this week while proctoring the state end-of-course tests. To me, proctoring is actually harder than teaching -- I get bored. I mean, come on . . . all I'm doing is walking around the room, making sure no one is on the wrong screen, in the wrong section of the test, cheating, etc. So I usually let my mind wander to whatever story I'm working on. This time last year, I was immersed in Anything But Mine, and characters and ideas were bouncing around in my head.

Not this year.

This time, while watching kids panic over the Biology EOCT (my heavens, that test was hard!), I found my mind wandering creatively, except the images in my head had nothing to do with creating scenes.

Want to know what I've been up to mentally for the last couple days?

Arranging furniture in my soon-to-be-renovated living room. Planning paint colors for said furniture. Trying on different types of curtains.

Yep, I'm virtually decorating. I'm having a blast, but it's like having an alien life form sucking your brain out. No room for writing-related matters right now. I have to decide -- am I painting the coffee table red? Or a more sedate ivory? Brown, maybe? Heritage blue? See, I've waited longer for these renovations than I have to sell a book, so maybe it's only fair that for now I'm obsessing about making the most of them. It's kind of the way I feel when I'm writing -- I need details hammered out before I put words on paper (I'm a polished first draft kinda gal, after all!), and I need the same attention to detail focused on the rooms where I'm going to live.

So.

There you have it -- my current obsession.

Any suggestions on how to get the house obsession to take a back seat to the writing obsessions again?