Amazingly, I’ve nearly made it to chapter 9. I have to fight the twin demons of procrastination and… procrastination… to get here, but when I sit down and make myself stick my flash drive in my computer and open the document, I realize it’s really not as hard as I tell myself it is. After I get past my mental critic (it sucks, no publisher will pick it up, your dreams are too big), things just flow. I began, after my last session with my writing tutor, to have a goal of 1500 words a week, and realized that I could write much more, so I upped it to 2000. I surprised myself this weekend, writing all 2000 words within two hours, in one sitting, at a Peet’s coffee shop in Seattle. All I have to do is take away the distractions. I enjoyed how there wasn’t much music in that Peet’s coffee–I concentrated more than I have in most Starbucks. And with my mom across the street at her harp lesson, I was distraction-free. I feel powerful and focused when I’m in that “writing zone,” and nothing except my own self-determination can get me there. But a mug of hot tea always helps.
Photo: Part of a statue/sculpture in Sedona, AZ, where I went for my birthday (around turkey day) last year. I’ll try to blog more often… hopefully once a week… I know its been a while since my last post. (I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot lately.)
I can’t tell you how excited and happy I am to hear about this new novel! Do you allow views of the rough draft or is it top secret? 😉
I love the photos, dear bassoonist. How fabulous that you are writing a novel. Reading your posts made me feel all Virginia-Woolf-ish and Jane Austen-ish. It is cozy to picture you sipping tea, noshing on Halloween candy and dashing your imaginative thoughts onto paper. Keep it up, novelist!