Imaginary Friends

I don't recall having any of these when I was a kid. I'm sure I did, because any young girl that would 'gallop' around on all fours around the dining room table enough times to make a lap in the carpet (yes, horse lover) surely had an imaginary rider, at the very least. But I don't remember relying on that imaginary friend to be that one person I rely on in my quiet times, and to whom I give so much of myself and my energy.

Well, I do now. In fact, I've got whole boatload of them. That's what happens when you immerse yourself into the world of the novel you are writing. My two best imaginary friends are Adie and Dannika and I sooooo want the best for them. Sometimes, it hurts me to have to put them in certain situations, but it would be way too boring if we just all sat around sipping tea all day.

I remember reading about how Stephenie Meyer just 'fell in love' with her characters and that's why she couldn't stop writing. I was like, that's just weird. Until I felt compelled (apparently) to give that whole concept a whirl and boy was I wrong. Well, actually, I'm probably not wrong, it probably is weird, but it's true! I told my husband the other day that I was so excited to write the sequel because my characters have choices to make and are in limbo and have love on hold and I just am so anxious to ignore my own life so that I can continue theirs. He just smiled and gave me a big hug and left for work, sure thinking 'that's just weird'.

I'm pretty sure my kids have imaginary friends. And they seem to take up all my time, too.

But I've determined that imaginary friends are lovely. And when the ones on paper talk about you behind your back, you can just hit delete. :)

I'm in the final phases of preparing to introduce my imaginary friends to the world, and it is so exciting. My imaginary friends are getting all gussied up for their big debut---hoping early Julyish, maybe even 7/7, like in my obsessively favorite movie, We Bought a Zoo (hey, that date worked for them). And yes, there are horses in the story.