Character Thoughts

Today I'm supposed to talk about what's on my mind. What am I thinking about?

My main thought is that I finished my new manuscript and have it ready to go out with the courier when she arrives this afternoon. When I signed up for this date, I thought I would write about something else. But as I headed toward the end of this manuscript and sending it off, I knew there wasn't much else that would be on my mind until the pages were signed, sealed, and delivered.

While I'm writing, I'm thinking about my characters constantly. They often speak to me at the most inopportune times. I'm in the middle of traffic and the heroine finally, finally! explains why she's been upset at the hero. Then I have to wait until I get home and can grab a few minutes to get to the computer. And, sure enough, I find that all the signs were there. I just wasn't listening well enough.

The other thing I find interesting is that I can carry on a perfectly normal conversation with a real live person. . . and have my character giving me information in my head at the same time. I used to worry about that until I discovered other writers do the same thing (right, lovelies? don't leave me hanging alone out here).

So, how do you deal with the invasion of your characters into your thoughts? Or do you just accept that this is your world and go on? And if you don't have characters chatting at you in your head, what do you think about?