Noodling

It's a guilty pleasure. One I've kept to myself for a while. Hidden. Secret. Completely under wraps.

Yeah, it's been my own little time-stealer, pulling me away from what I should be doing to claim my attention.

I can't take it any more, having this skeleton cracking a finger from the closet beside my desk. So I'm going to come clean, confess and let you in on the secret. Are you ready?

Noodling. I've been noodling around with an old (almost ancient!) manuscript. I wrote the book a long time ago but never really gave it the attention it deserved. I tucked it away, thinking that someday I'd mess around with it.

"Someday" arrived a few months ago and I've got to confess, I'm pretty much hooked. It's so much easier to see what the story needs now that I've been away from it for so long. The spots where it needs more tension jump out. Characters who deserve extra "quirkiness" get it. And loopholes and inconsistencies are so blaringly obvious they make me laugh. All easy fixes.

I'm having fun with this old book, tightening and rewriting it. It's a blast but oh-so seductive. It calls to me, urging me to come play, while my NaNo clock is ticking fast and furious. I want to be good, really I do, but the book, it calls...

What about you? Any noodles wrapped around your neck?