Away with the Fairies

Away with the Fairies, or What Happens in November

The British have an expression, “away with the fairies,” which according to the Oxford Dictionary means “giving the impression of being mad, distracted, or in a dream world.” Which pretty much describes me on a typical November day as I’m pecking away at the keyboard writing 50,000 words for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

Now, this isn’t a bad thing. My madness is typically expressed in a tendency to giggle at my own jokes—and not my main symptom. “In a dream world” is more of the definition I fall into as I live and breathe my characters’ lives intensely for hours each day, laughing and crying with them as they struggle, grow, suffer, or fall in love. The experience is surreal and satisfying. If you’re a non-writer, imagine having a movie playing in your mind all day long—and playing all the roles. Weird and wonderful stuff.

And when I come back from being “with the fairies,” I feel changed. If you eat fairy food, they say, you will crave it ever after—and if you write a book from your heart and not just your head, you will remain attached in some way to the world and people you’ve created. They stay with you, and you’ll miss them sometimes.

So, dear friends, if you ever meet me in November, please excuse my glazed look, messy ponytail, and unaccounted for mischievous grin. I’m off with the fairies—and they’re my kind of folk.

Rest assured, I always come back in December—totally unprepared for Christmas! 

 Images courtesy of The Graphics Fairy.