Month: September 2005

I spell it like thus!

Writer guy

On Saturday I bought a copy of this bad boy ( yes, for sentimental reasons ):

Potato Bonsai

Please excuse the grainy resolution. The camera in the Treo prefers well lit environments.

Should I nurture one through life, I’ll document my progress with photos. Imagine deliberately growing a rotting potato for fun and profit! Oh man, I love this country.

In other news, another good writing session. Finished out with just under 800 words. Note the recent up tick on the word count meter. Began later this morning than the routine prescribes, clocking in at 6AM. The cats did a drive by on the Wife at 4AM and neglected my complimentary wake-up call.

The unMonday

Writer guy

A remarkable day, mostly for its lack of Monday-ness. At a recent meeting I spent most of the meeting drinking in details for characters. Once I finish this book, I’ll churn out a piece about the experience. Definite short story material echoes from those halls. Resemblances to actual persons, places or events will be unintentional. That’s what the lawyers always tell me I must say.

The 5AM rise, write schedule continues. Good session at the keyboard. Good session, indeed.

As the world burns

Writer guy

Pain is a sneaky foe; my personal threshold for it varies wildly. To claim I can handle more than the next person reads well, but it is a lie. Brand me average, momma. I’m straight C’s in the pain tolerance department.

When and where pain erupts, matters more to me than the actual discomfort. Context is also the primary factor in triage, and determines whether any corrective action is necessary. A Charley horse at five AM merits instant treatment. It gets my attention because that sort of ailment interrupts sleep. Like a eight-year-old cranked on refined sugar, a severe muscle pull will not be ignored.

However, a sore throat that runs twelve days – growing more intense daily – a ringing in both ears, and a constant state of dizziness, I ignore. Or, for those bound by grammar, I ignored. I denied those symptoms existed. At least until the ringing reached a point where eavesdropping on nearby tables in restaurants became impossible. Actually, hearing people seated at my table was difficult. I smiled and laughed my way through the rough patches. Perhaps, I said something appropriate. Maybe not, though.

And so, I visited a local Doc-in-a-Box. She discovered fluid in both ears and a bacterial infection. A very unglamorous diagnosis. She scribbled a prescription for antibiotics, anti-histamines and ear drops, and wished me luck. Excellent work for ninety-seconds.

Well, one side benefit of the treatment, concentrating at the keyboard is much easier.

A lesson learned?

Writer guy

This was the least productive writing week of the past six months. Unfortunately, the sentence rings very hollow; I logged a similar claim last week. Still, the latest doldrum marks a new personal record. Five hundred words. Oh, how did this happen?

Edits bare some blame. I beat three chapters quite severely. Launching a new website ate a day, book buying and listing, another. Perfectionism aggravated the shortfall. I revised one chapter nine times in a single session, though certainly the streak explains no more than one off day across seven.

So, I examined differences between the past two weeks and more productive ones. The motive is self-serving.. In the name of finishing the book this year, I’d like piles of the latter, and very little of the former.

A common thread found among better weeks: a successful week begins on Monday, immediately after breakfast. Prolific, tight, readable writing occurs first thing in the morning, or not at all. At least for me, that is truth. When responsibilities are sloughed, the chores, the errands pushed back into the afternoon, and the writing assumes precedence, it happens. A clear mind drives a ship great distances, so to does writing early and often.

Therefore, I’m altering my sleeping patterns. After feeding the cats at 5AM instead of returning to bed, I’ll rise, write until 9AM, then handle life.

The new schedule starts Sunday.