A place to hang your hat.
Isn't this what everone wants?
For the last two weeks, we have been moving into a new house. It's right next door to my old place, but it has new paint, new floors, new stuff all around. It's bright and shiny and clean.
My stuff is being moved one box at a time.
It's slowly becoming familiar here. After living in one home for twenty years, it's weird to not wake up in my bedroom, use my familiar stove that the one burner doesn't work.
Odd as it sounds, I miss home.
It's kind of like that with my latest finished manuscript. I miss it. I miss my characters, their story.
I know, I have a new couple to meet. To get to know. But I long for the comfort of the last people I created.
I long for the familiar.
Coming up with new GMC, new places, new story. It's fun, it's exciting. But it's also overwhelming at times.
Sort of like moving into a new house.
I know exactly what you mean when you say you miss your home. When we moved from the house we lived in for 10 years into the house we are in now, I was homesick for a few months. And the same goes for my last MS. I do miss my character's terribly--I know them so well. I've started a new story, and even though this one takes place in the same world and features a character that was in my last MS, I'm still homesick.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of moving, D'Ann...not the actual work of doing so. You'll get used to it and pretty soon there will be little tics about the new house, too.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your move D'Ann...hope you settle in soon and your new home feels just as secure and comfortable as your old.
ReplyDeleteLove the analogy of your move compared to starting a new story. It cane be so bittersweet!
Ah! But don't you feel excited about the new memories you can create in your new house?
ReplyDeleteA new story is the same way. It's like making new friends. Your old friends are still there, still reliable, but these friends are taking you on new adventures.
Okay, that sounded lame even to me. I've lived in the same house since we moved back to Missouri from Oklahoma when I was five. I stayed at college, obviously, but even after I got married, we only lived away from my home about 5 months before we moved into my old house.
I understand completely as well. We lived in our house for 40 years in Central NJ. We moved to an apartment in Northern NJ 3 yrs. ago. The change was painful, like moving to another planet. But I finally adjusted. You will too.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the move D'Ann. I would love to move into my own place. My husband, cat, and I have been living with my sister for over a year now. SIGH. Until I can get him where he isn't keeping me running 6 days a week I see no way out of here. Work overnight maybe and haul him to the doctor and dialysis but then squeezing in the sleep time.
ReplyDeleteGreat analogy. I feel the same way about my people. But, oh, the adventure of a new story (or house)!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your move. I hate moving but a new place is exciting. We miss the old but I'm always excited by new possibilities.
ReplyDeleteI admit to being a creature of habit. I like what I like, how I like it. Change, though necessary, isn't always accepted easily.
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy your new house as well as your new ms. Good luck on both!
D'Ann, You are so right. The hardest part for me is ending my book.
ReplyDeleteSorry but I had to smile when I read about the one burner that doesn't work. I've got one of those myself. And I'm more at home with that stove than I was the new one that suffered in our kitchen fire. What that has to do with writing and missing characters I don't know, but I couldn't pass up telling you about it.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean. I just finished a manuscript but I'm not ready to leave my characters just yet. I think that's why I spend so much time revising and polishing. LOL.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new home. I love moving into a new house and setting up. Starting new. You'll get used to it. And I'm sure you'll get used to all 4 burners working.
Congrats on the new house! You know what they say about new house-new baby. Maybe,your new baby will be a new story. :)
ReplyDeleteIt'll be a great adventure.And like the move a lot of work... but in the end it's all worth it.
Neecy
We moved 8 years ago from the backyard to the front yard into a brand new house and it was still overwhelming so I can relate, D'Ann!
ReplyDeleteHow many dreams will you have of your old home, while waking up in your new one? I still have that sensation and it's been 15 years. Can you close your eyes and move through the rooms? See where everything was placed? I can still do that in my childhood home, 6 homes ago.
ReplyDeleteMake new dreams. Fall in love new characters.
Congrats on the new house... Here I thought you were moving temporarily while your house was being remodeled...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I know exactly what you mean... I hate leaving a story. It always takes me 100 or so pages to get to know my new characters. I'll even cheat and read parts of an old MS to visit with my old characters when I start missing them, or get too frustrated with my new ones...LOL
But a new home is exciting!
I know how you feel. I still sometimes miss the very first house hubby and I had. It was small, but cozy. No matter how many stories you write, there's going to be one that stays with you forever.
ReplyDeleteA new home is exciting, but any move is a lot of work. Oddly enough, our last move was just like yours. We moved down the street. My parents also moved a while back from my childhood home to a house they had built right next to it. That jumble of emotions--I can see how it's like an MS. Lol, but the new soon becomes old, so your new work will become familiar before you know it.
ReplyDeleteI've moved very infrequently in my life--the last time was 10 years ago. And that was a major upheaval, so I certainly understand missing the old while settling into the new. But we had sadly outgrown the old house and the new one was a blessing.
ReplyDeleteHowever, as with my old house, my last novel, while I didn't outgrow it, was ready for me to let go of it so it could stand on its own feet. And the starting the new one, like moving into a new house, was exciting and kept me too busy to miss the old characters. In the back of my head I know I'll see them again--they're part of a series that has 5 books so I'll see them a lot. Just like old friends.
Great post!
Thank you so much, everyone, for coming by! I apprecaite you all so much!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about it like that, but writing a new book is like moving into a new home. And I totally get missing your characters.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why I'm doing a Bix series.
I'd be depressed if I had to give him up now.