Gimme A Break!

Have you ever seen those Kit-Kat bar commercials in which everyone is singing, Gimme a Break, Gimme a Break and then happily biting off the end of a chocolate-covered cookie bar?

I’m at that stage right now. I need a break. Just a tiny one. Sugar-filled is fine. Coffee will help. I’d even trade the food breaks for a short walk. A trip to the garden center. Thirty minutes to plant five yellow coreopsis and five purple salvia plants.

In short, I just want some time to step away from the book I’m one chapter away from finishing, because whenever I reach the end, I write the most pivotal scene too quickly and it always reads that way. Yes, I always plump up this scene later on, but when the words are tumbling out, the killer’s being confronted, and the protagonist is putting everything on the line in order to see that justice is served, I can’t even answer the phone. I am right there, heart pounding, as I subject my beloved characters to fear, anguish and possibly even injury.

Have you felt this way about a project before? If so, what was the project and what kind of mini break do you take?

I’m off to the pantry. I know I’ve got a Tootsie Roll pop down there. That way, I can get the sugar rush and still write…