The creation of a novel doesn’t take place entirely at a keyboard. Much of it takes place in the author’s head — brainstorming, free-associating, mentally sculpting scenes and plotlines.
However. If the author is driving, it’s vital to give the brainstorming a rest. Focus all your attention on the road, not on the mental map.
This is a long way of explaining why I set out this morning to drive one mile to the gym, and ended up in the next town.
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LOL…
Great post.
Scary, isn’t it? Until I buckled down and forced myself to concentrate, I regularly got to a destination with no memory of the drive. Auto-pilot is great in the air but not on the ground!
I usually blame music when that happens to me.
I blame books on CD!
It was the wife, today. I was just signalling to turn right towards my Dad’s when she stopped talking and reminded me we were going to her parents.
I hadn’t been daydreaming th0ugh – I’d been listening intently…
My car has auto pilot too. It just has a regular course it goes. I’ll get clear down the road and it will dawn on me that I’m not going to my usual place and I have to turn around. It’s really kind of scary when you think about it.
I thought that was just me. I started a new job while in the middle of writing my first book and a couple of mornings I almost missed my exit. It wasn’t a familiar route (plus 4 times longer) and my mind was on my characters. It sure made the drive to work go fast, though (and I came up with some great ideas).
sadly, my default auto-pilot location is the cupcake store … and not the one that made the “cake” in the post after this one!!