Holiday Countdown, It's Alive!, Scuba Diving

Seeing as it's on my mind so much, I've decided to include a permanent little spot in my three thinks, dedicated to my book. This is for the duel purpose of sharing my progress and keeping me sane.

This said, my three thinks for today are:

Holiday Countdown - This morning I woke up with the astonishing, mind-blowing, attitude-changing realisation that I will be on holiday within a month!  That means scalding hot sand and ice cream on the beach; cold fruit salads for lunch, and walking barefoot in town with a ‘so what’ expression on my face. For those of you outside of SA, I remind you that December means SUMMER!!!!! I cannot wait to get my tan on and walk confidently to the water’s edge – only to throw my hands in the air and retreat, screaming, as the first cold wave touches my shins.

And Christmas!! Oh yeah!! Leg of Impala, sweet potatoes, malvapoeding for dessert…(Note to self: do not drool on laptop again.)

I can already see myself: lying on the beach, reading fluffy chicklit and planning my day only as far as the next meal. In the spirit of all this I have already painted my toenails a shocking pink: Summer Here I Come!

It's Alive! - Now, please do not think me weird/mental/schizophrenic, but it feels like the characters in my book have taken on a life of their own. The other night I was writing blissfully, when one of my male characters fell off a hedge. 

I kid you not.

I did not plan this!! He was supposed to leap over all knight-like and sexy, and off he goes rolling in the dust like an idiot. Surprised at his little mishap, I sat back, aghast.

To make matters worse, my other two female characters found this hilariously funny and would not stop laughing no matter what I did to shut them up. Refusing my supposed control over them, they just stood there: snickering and mocking.

Eventually, I got them to calm down and resume sub ordinance, but then I started laughing. Like a maniac. At my own characters.

The thing is, each character has been so fully developed in my mind: with their own likes and dislikes; habits and personalities - that they sort of take care of their own behaviour now. They are leading me on how they react, what they do and what happens to them.

To be honest, it’s quite entertaining. Mwahahahahaha.

Scuba Diving - Hell no. No way. Not enough money in the world. 

Not quite sure how to pinpoint the exact moment when I developed a mortal fear for encountering a tiny fish in its territory, but I have narrowed it down to about three incidents:

-         -  Being manhandled by a monitor lizard in our backyard pool when I was 6,

-         -  Having my flipper caught in something when the water was too murky for me to see what it was (age 10),

-          - Seeing some massive thing outlined in phosphor in the water, at night, in a lake in Mozambique (quite recent).

I cannot think of anything worse than swimming down into the depths with things peeking out at you from under rocks, gliding over you or bumping into you. And it’s not even the shark thing – seriously! Not afraid of them! I just hate the lack of perspective and the feeling that something out there is watching you. I even hyperventilated once when a fishy the size of my thumb bumped into my mask. Not cool.

I know it’s completely irrational and stupid; that people do it every day and that I’m 'missing out' on a whole world – but really: for the no-nonsense person that I am, I think I am allowed this one small irrationality.

Get geared-up and psyched-up for your holidays (whether it's snowy or unbearably hot), create something of your own - and allow yourself a little craziness. Of the misunderstood fear kind. Not the banging your head against the padded wall kind.