Lost in the World of Faery

Before the Victorians made fairies cute and cuddly, they were naughty and dangerous. It was said they would whisk a person away to dance at their court for what seemed like an afternoon and yet years would pass in the mortal realm.

That’s how I feel these days. Like I’ve been taken away to an alternate universe where time has little meaning until someone reminds me that something is due or needs to be done. It’s why I’ve been late posting this. I’ve been lost in the world of faery.

My time “there” got me thinking about time. On more than one occasion I’ve said to family and friends that time is a construct in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. But is it wrong? We construct it for ourselves—personal hallmarks to tell us what comes next. This time of year, I expect the start of the new school year, cooler weather and longer walks. Now that one of those three things hasn’t happened, my natural writer’s clock is sluggish.  

This is all a long way of saying I’m taking the month of September off from my blog. I need to get back in a rhythm and I feel my time with the fairies isn’t yet over.

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Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rip Van Winkle and Me

Fairy tales and folklore have a tradition of putting protagonists in comas. Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Rip Van Winkle are only a few examples of letting things cool down while the main character takes a prolonged nap. Evil queens are dispatched. Curses are lifted and generally life goes on. It changes the trajectory of the story, like painting oneself out of a corner.Snow White and the Evil Queen could have gone on like that indefinitely.How long could Sleeping Beauty avoid new clothes and spinning wheels?And Rip's laziness wasn't going to make much of a story if it didn't lead to something.Writers do the same thing. When I get stuck on a story, I work on another story until I feel refreshed enough to get back to the old story. I know other writers who go on retreats or put their work away for a prolonged period of time, hoping distance will give them a fresh look.Well, I'm currently stuck in a marketing spiral. I've written about this before, but I've decided to take drastic measures. With book 2 in my Enchanted Path series due before the end of the year, I need to concentrate on it exclusively for the next month. I'm proud that I've been able to post every Tuesday for almost a year and intend to continue.But for now, I need to unplug from social media and blogging. I'm taking a month and a half off to get a better handle on my new draft of A Noble's Path.I'll return in time for the anniversary of my return to the blogosphere with all new insights about fairy tales.