Linette’s Secret Obsession Revealed

Due to the fact that the college where I work is now on spring break I have found myself with an 11-day vacation of sorts. I have decided to use this time to catch up on several projects: spring cleaning, family memory albums, and writing my novel.

Yes. It’s true. I’m working on a novel. I call it “Emily.”

It’s a dangerous thing for a writer to work on a novel. In order to do it properly, one must put aside reality and totally immerse oneself in the lives of people who only exist in one’s imagination. It may not surprise you to learn, this sort of detachment with reality comes easy to me. Indeed, I’ve been an avid daydreamer my entire life.

I’ve never told anyone this before, but as a young teen I took daydreaming to the extreme. It was, for a time, my secret obsession.

I’d lock myself in my room and lay on my bed imagining stories. Sometimes I’d actually get up and act them out, whispering all the lines. Most of my stories back then were about me in some other idyllic universe where I played the part of the damsel in distress who needed to be saved from some horrible fate. Other times I became the unexpected heroine, coming to the aid of others just in the nick of time. It was always exciting, always fun, but always secret. I could never tell anyone what I was doing. Because as much as I enjoyed letting my mind take me away from my reality, deep down I knew it wasn’t right. I wasn’t a damsel, and I wasn’t a heroine. I was just me. Linette. As much as I enjoyed pretending to be someone else, eventually, I told myself it had to stop, and I gave it up.

But now it’s Emily and not me who will play the part of innocent victim and/or unexpected heroine, as the chapter may be. And it’s just as exciting and fun as ever. My goal is to “fix and finish Emily” by my 46th Birthday this August. After that, who knows. I might send her off to publishers, or maybe self-publish. Maybe I’ll post the story here, one chapter a week! Right now I don’t even care. I’m just enjoying the journey.

Some people build birdhouses. Other people paint. I’m writing a fun, wholesome, Christian romance novel appropriate for young adults or modest Christian women. And I’m not ashamed to say it. No more hiding behind locked doors.

So, if you happen to see me staring off into space with a faraway look in my eye, don’t be surprised. I’m just working on my novel.