Thursday, March 12, 2009

Epic Stuggle and Writer's High


I’m En Fuego.

I knocked another two thousand words today. I finished with a solid rush of writer’s high. The euphoria was still with me an hour after I stopped at 6,341 words and 31 pages. The story is coming along better than I had hoped. Twists continue to develop within the plot and a couple more new characters emerged today.

I’ve been sick since I started writing new book. The first couple of days entailed an awful lot of hacking and sneezing. Yesterday I broke into a fever after I finished writing. Now that I’m feeling better, the dramatist in me is looking back the last couple of days as some kind of epic struggle.

In the interest of documenting drama and conflict, I kept a record of the interruptions during today’s writing session. For full effect, hum the theme to The Ten Commandments as you read. Hold on, I just tried it and I can’t hum the theme to The Ten Commandments and read at the same time.

9:44 – Sat down to go over the plot and character notes

9:48 – Goggled 1960’s surfer jargon (for one of the characters)

9:54 - My ten year-old asked to use the computer. I said no. Then my eight year-old asked me to look at her blood blister. I looked at the blister. It was indeed pretty darned icky…

9:59 – My wife asked me to sigh income tax paperwork.

10:06 – My five year-old asked for a band aid. She scraped her heel.

10:07 – My eight year-old asked to see one of the books at my desk. I took a break, refilled my coffee and grabbed a banana.

10:09 – Back to writing…

10:19 – My eight year-old asked if she could get new shoes, shoes like Bella in Twilight wears. I said maybe…

10:24 – My five year old asked me to tie her shoes. I did. My wife asked what I needed from Cost Co. I asked her to remember coffee. I got up to blow my nose and walked downstairs to grab a granola bar. My wife gave me a hug and left with the girls for Cost Co.

10:27 - Back to writing…

10:36 – The phone rang. I didn’t answer.

11:16 – I took a break, watered the back lawn and made a protein shake.

11:30 – Back to writing…

12:07 – Restroom break…Called wife. I forgot to tell her to pick up frozen berries.

1:08 – Walked downstairs for a glass of water.

1:14 – Phone rang. I didn’t answer.
1:39 – Family returned. I shut the door and kept writing.

1:57 – A friend called on the cell phone. I told him I would call back in five minutes.

2:00 – Quitting Time: 6431 words and 31 pages.

3:00 – Began to come down from severe case of writer’s high. Ahhhhhh…