Last week, a local theater ran the original Psycho. In honor of Halloween and the start of another NaNoWriMo, my husband and I went. We'd seen Psycho before but not on a big screen, not in a roomful of people with their own reasons for going. Soon, we were all lost in another time, another place.
That's pretty much what happens to me during November - I get lost in a world of my own making. I look up from my keyboard and have to blink a few times to situate myself. I walk out of my office and catch a glimpse of a character running down the hall, darting into another room. I have to ask my poor husband to repeat his question a third time because I'm busy trying to figure out how - or if! - my protagonist will manage to kill the creature lurking in the shadows.
I am not easy to live with during the best of times, but November brings its own special kind of Hell for my long-suffering, patient husband. So, while we were watching Psycho, a particular scene made me laugh out loud because I'm pretty sure it sums up what my husband thinks of me during NaNoWriMo. (Okay, maybe he feels this way all the time, but he's too nice to say it.)
"IT'S NOT LIKE [SHE'S] A MANIAC
OR A RAVING THING.
SHE JUST GOES A LITTLE MAD SOMETIMES.
WE ALL GO A LITTLE MAD SOMETIMES.
HAVEN'T YOU?"
(Norman Bates)
*****
Do you wig out (pun intended!) during NaNoWriMo? Or when you're deep into a creative project? How does your spouse/significant other/support team handle you? Do you do anything to thank them when - if?! - sanity returns?
