December 14th, 2008 by Special Guest
- Wake and identify excellent new plot points for story. Feel enthusiastic.
- Drink coffee while waking household to a bright new day. Think about exciting new ideas for story.
- Make 3,478th sack lunch for child.
- Argue heatedly with boisterous 10 year old son about weather appropriate clothing, politics, God, the pros/cons of sword fighting near a hot stove, the NerfGun dart that is stuck to the back of my neck, and what shoes he will wear (he will make the WORST choice).
- Use threats, coercion and bribery to successfully send son off to school.
- Chastise self for good measure.
- Search memory for new plot points identified that morning. Fail to locate them.
- Chastise self for good measure – again.
- Despair over writing career.
- Drink coffee and read email.
- Open Story on laptop.
- Suddenly think of something else that needs to be done right away.
- Do that other thing.
- Return to desk.
- Read Huffington Post.
- Consider blogging but feel inadequate for the task.
- Stare interestedly at toenails. Consider seeking emergency pedicure. Remember vow to stop all self-indulging behaviors until first book is published. Ha.
- Talk to dogs about problems.
- Think fondly of the days when cigarette smoking was cool. Pat self on back for quitting years ago while secretly fantasizing about making smoke rings.
- Pluck eyebrows thoroughly (as if this is actually possible).
- In an effort to justify lack of creativity (and to avoid having to actually WRITE), read and edit Story pages written to date.
- Have a snack and wonder if it is too early for a glass of wine.
- Experiment with new Epi-Lady on legs and armpits. Yeouch!
- Have another snack.
- Drink coffee.
- Drink coffee.
- Drink coffee.
- Re-read Huffington Post.
- Day dream.
- Nap.
- Drink coffee.
- Call a friend to talk about her problems.
- Go for walk or run or do yoga and day dream the entire time.
- Use positive self-talk to pull myself together.
- Sit down at desk again and disconnect from the internet.
- Despair of ever writing a complete story much less publishing one.
- Take a deep breath. Exhale.
- Begin, finally, to write.
- Write and write and write until that subtle shift occurs and I am lost in the sea of my dreams.
- Start over the next day.
No related posts.
I’m not a writer, but some of these rituals are very familiar… especially the “discussions” with the opinionated son.
Good luck finishing your current project. If it’s half as funny, warm, and wise as this post, I will definitely be buying it.
Lady, you need a Master Schedule. Do you want to write or not? If you do, then you’re going to have to think of it as a job. Carve out time during your day, the same amount of time at the same time every day, and make yourself write. Would you do all that stuff you listed if you were working at law office?
laughs…
Can you say procrastination?
Can you say…this is my life?
Oh, I loved this post and have very similar days, weeks, months, and yes it even feels like years…oh wait, my kids are 9 and 14 so, it has been years!
Am published, however, I still go through all this kind of stuff…
By the way…after all that coffee, a nap is still possible? grins…
~lissa
LOL Great post. Sounds like me today roaming around the house with a nasty cold!
I can relate… especially the having great ideas and great enthusiam and getting pushed out of my head by kid concerns and demands (like right now, my daughter not asleep and calling me from the other room), and by the time I’m free for the night I can’t remember anything and feel frustrated because I was sure I would remember…
It’s slow going.
Imagine if you had to bring your kids to the law office, and manage their daily life from there.
Dude, you totally have to start blogging so that when you finally do sit down to write, you can add one more not-novel-writing task
Yay you for eventually sinking into the dream. Sure, it’d be nice if it’d happen quicker, but you get there. Keep dreaming!
That sort of day sounds very, very familiar to me. LOL!
One way to avoid losing those interesting plot points during the morning rush (I had the same problem for awhile): keep a notepad on your nightstand, and another on the kitchen counter. I come up with more good stuff while I’m doing dishes–it’s just a matter of remembering all of it when things finally slow down enough for me to write!
Good luck!
Kimber An, I don’t know about Lena, but I’m afraid that I’ve become way too much of a free spirit to stick to a Master Schedule…
When my kiddos were young, I was the schedule queen–my To Do lists had sub-lists, and everything was prioritized, alphabetized, and sanitized!
But since they grew up and moved on, and since I began teaching college classes online, I’ve learned to love the flexibility.
I still have to be self-disciplined and set aside a specific number of hours each day to grade assignments and answer e-mails, and I also set aside a specific amount of time to work on my writing each day (when I feel stymied, I do research, which tends to stimulate great ideas about what’s next).
But my schedule’s different every day, and I love, love, love it! I can pace myself–take time to enjoy a long walk with the dog, put some stew in the crock pot for dinner, wrap some gifts, make a fresh loaf of bread, and read my fave blogs (!)–and still squeeze all of my work in, but without the regimentation of a master schedule.
I used to think it was a personality thing, but I’ve realized it’s also about where you are in life–if you have kiddos at home, you have to schedule everything in order to keep it straight. Period. Have to admit, though, I don’t miss that part…
You’ve been spying on me, haven’t you?