Juggling Multiple Mistresses

I don't know if I've said this before, but the best metaphor I've ever heard about the book you're writing and the next one is this: "The book you're writing is the wife. The one you wish you were writing is the mistress."

As you may have figured out from the title and my little intro, my writing brain is having a bit of trouble with focus. My time is still heavily devoted to the wife book, but I have three sweet little things tantalizing me with purred promises of how gooooood they will make things. How easy they will be to get into. How they'll do things for me she won't do. Umm. *shakes head* I may have gotten a little metaphorically carried away there. There's even a fourth and fifth one, winking in and out of my line of sight like the shimmer of a mirage. Yeah, carried away again.

I love my wife book. I do. I wouldn't have committed to it, to Dylan and Mike's story, if I didn't. I want to know how it works out. I love hanging with Dylan's sullen attack-first attitude and Mike's ability to make Dylan start to question that attitude. I love that Mike is so smoking hot Dylan can't help himself. Even talking about it makes me regret this time away from them—and get a little weak-kneed.

But damn. Those mistresses.

First, Joey and Aaron appear in the book and if one or the other of them aren't trying to take over every damned scene they're in, they want to tell me about things that don't have any place in this story. Then out of nowhere, this pile of hot-wrong angst downloads in my brain and then keeps popping up to make me put some flesh on those hot-wrong angsty bones. And the more I think about how excited I am about Eli's book coming out in December, the more I want to go back and play in Baltimore with another Bad book.

I've never tried to write two (and start thinking about a third) books at the same time, but I'm not sure I can fight temptation much longer. In the meantime—Yes, dear. I'll get right to it.

(Whispers: Book monogamy sucks.)

To those of you about to NaNo: I salute you. Best wishes with your new wife!