Hi! This week I’ve felt really disoriented, and at last I’ve figured out why: I’ve been living in too many alternate realities!
Alternate realities, part one: Sister Catherine of the Sisters of Providence, Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor.
It has to do with work.
What, no astral projection?
Have your laugh now, Lily. I can confirm you will have that type of experience yourself when you are seventeen! It happens during an intensive summer theater workshop, when you and all the other students are exhausted from three weeks of grueling physical and emotional work, with one more week to go.
That sounds scary!
It was at the time, 9, but it turns out okay. But that’s a story for another day.
The current alternate realities I live in are:
- Sister Catherine’s world. It is crunch time to memorize her Living History presentation, so I’m running thirty plus minutes of her reality in my brain twice a day.
- The world of book five in my series, Justice in Big-G City. I’m reading the whole thing out loud for the third of fourth time, and am pretty sure this will be the final revision before I send it to the publisher for consideration. As usual, there’s a cast of dozens, so I am both living a few hours a day in the behind-the-scenes City of Mount Olympus, and doing it as multiple personalities.
Sometimes the transition back from these worlds into so-called “real” life is awkward. Who am I, and where am I? Not so much in the morning, before I start, or in the evening, when work is done for the day, but if I need to interact with people in between? I usually don’t have difficulty thinking of things to say (in fact, some people may hold the opinion that I talk too much!). It’s not an issue for simple interactions, like going to the grocery store, but if I meet a friend for coffee or lunch, these days they’d best be prepared to carry the conversation.
Alternate realities, part two: Living in the “G” world, and in the heads of everybody there!
I’d like to get Justice out the door before I’m away from the office for a few days next week. Sister Catherine appears at Fort Walla Walla Museum on September 15, so I can’t exorcise her from my conscious and subconscious thoughts until after then.
So be warned: For the next seventeen days, things will be a bit crowded in my head! Look for my return from alternate realities on Monday, September 16!
