Thanksgiving is upon us and there is so much to do that I feel a panic attack coming on every time I think about it. Besides all the holiday prep, I’m doing all the cooking. With Christmas a little more than a month away and the craziness that goes with the festive season, I feel the dementia setting in.

The panic is even worse as I edit Food for Thought and Recurring. First drafts are crude, ugly, and consistently inconsistent. I’m all over the place. A writer can and will explain something in Chapter Two, then re-explain it in Chapter Seven because she completely forgot she has already covered that part to death! One paragraph of background information has to be deleted, and then the chapter needs rewriting to make it fluent. And how many times can a writer forget to type in the word “the” and not sound like an idiot? Am I typing slower than I’m thinking? Am I thinking at all? Do I ever think? Is my mind somehow blocking this word and that’s the reason I can’t seem put it in everywhere it belongs? If you’ve ever wondered why writers have a reputation for heavy drinking – these are a few of the reasons.

Sometimes when I’m driving, I’m thinking about the books and I remember something I’d like to add or clarify. I pull over, whip out my notebook, write it down, and continue on my way – and hope I remember to check the notebook once I get home. There are scraps of paper everywhere in my office, Post-It notes all over my computer, scribblings on my desk calendar, and a massive pile of papers on the left side of my desk that consists of charts, notebooks, printouts, bills (oh, that’s where they are!), and a few store circulars thrown into the heap to add color and character. I wish I could be a more organized writer, but I guess I like the drama of not being able to find anything or else I wouldn’t do it.

I sure hope I’m better organized when Thursday comes. I have to make a 19 pound turkey (I hope it’s completely defrosted and I don’t have to use an ice pick to chip away inside the cavity again this year), stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, the broccoli, cheese, and rice thing that my mother used to make (nobody knows what it’s called), brussel sprouts, gravy, apple pie, and whatever else I’m sure I forgot to add to the list of cooking chores.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving everybody and remember, if the turkey meat is pink, don’t eat it!