Home » Things I have learned so far (Page 8)
Ned is very concerned about the lateness of his bedtime snack
I’d be lying if I said this was a particularly productive day in terms of the book. I made some edits, but it’s difficult to concentrate when you’re exhausted. Not that it was the book that was causing me to fall asleep; I know this, because I closed the document and tried to watch Stephen Colbert, and I kept falling asleep sitting up.
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Tootles
This is the part where I try to sort out the rules of this challenge. Obviously, since I made it up, I can do whatever I want with it. My ultimate goal is to finish my book, and tonight’s writing did not move me closer to that goal. On the other hand, I did write tonight, which is a good thing, and so I’m inclined to say it counts.
Tonight’s writing was a bio for a lovely young tiger cat named Tootles who is looking for her forever home. If you want to check her out, you’ll be able to find her on the Protectors of Animals Facebook page, most likely in the next few days. (I’m not responsible for scheduling posts, so I can’t be more specific.) She’s a wonderful little cat, and I’m hoping that my bio helps her find a loving forever home.
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Photo credit: Sharon Tay on Unsplash
Three days in, and I realized something: I have more material than I thought.
Apparently, this is what happens when you write a slew of discrete scenes in no order: you forget what exists, and you think you need to create when what you really need to do is organize and edit (and in some cases, review the material you wrote the notebooks you took to book events last year so you could write between customers, and see if there’s anything worth keeping).
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Photo credit: Dayne Tompkin on Unsplash
Second day, still going.
Admittedly, it could have been touch-and-go. I already knew I’d be working today. I also have a boatload of laundry that has piled up, in part because the limits on my well restrict how much water I can use for such purposes each day. Housework continues to get pushed off to another day. Today, there were at least half a dozen other valid and reasonable demands that could have consumed from one hour to six.
I wrote anyway.
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Photo credit: skeeze on Pixabay
Pleased to report that I’m off to a decent start.
Granted, I didn’t get to write until I got home from Mom’s. The earlier parts of the day consisted of church, stopping by the farm stand for veggies and blueberries, cooking stuff to take to Mom (meat loaf and mashed potatoes), paying bills, going to Mom’s, and dealing with house stuff when I got home. Finally, though, I settled in to rest, relax, and watch the rest of a documentary about the marvelous Judy Blume. Listening to this wonderfully creative person talk about her books—including the ignorant people who try to ban them for talking about sex (gasp!)—and who kept writing anyway—this inspired me to get back to work.
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Photo credit: Junior Moran on Unsplash
I’ve finished. At least, sort of.
Is there still material to write? Yes. Should I have worked on that today? Yes. Did I do it? No. What did I do instead?
Start from the beginning and edit what was already there.
Was this a good idea? Who knows?
To back up a little: last night, I fell into bed by midnight which—for me—is extremely early, but I was exhausted. Except for a few brief occasions when Ned woke me, meowing for food (which he didn’t get), I slept until about 9:30.
I had grand plans for the day. Laundry, housework, bill-paying, minor home repairs, errands—and, of course, writing. Except it didn’t turn out that way.
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Photo credit: Yende von Friende on Unsplash
I should have written 1,000 words today, but I didn’t. Not even if you count my revisions to a memo. I was going to try to write 1,000 words tonight, but the truth is that I’m exhausted. There’s very little point to writing words when you’re so exhausted that you know tonight that when you read it back tomorrow, it’ll suck.
There are other things I should do tonight, such as pay bills. Not going to, though. If this holiday weekendw ere a perfect offering, I’d go to bed tonight and wake up Tuesday night. Alas, there’s no perfection in this. So I’m taking my time and resting in the hope that tomorrow, I’ll write more and better than I’m doing now.
Apparently, Olivia feels I require supervision
Day Twelve is now in the bank, albeit a day late. I have two more days to this challenge.
Obviously, I won’t finish the book in two days. I was naïve to think it was possible. But I’m a whole lot closer than I was two weeks ago.
Some of what remains is simply about making choices: will a character do A or B? I’ve written both versions. It’s time to choose. See which version is more lifelike, more resonant, more emotional. See which offers the best options for conflict and resolution. See which advances the story and which is merely a tangent.
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Photo credit: Tom (analogicus) on Pixabay
So close to the end, and I missed a day. Day 12 of fourteen days. I didn’t write yesterday (except a few notes and a bunch of work stuff, which doesn’t count), but that’s okay, because . . . life.
This week has been busy: three doctor appointments for me and one for Ned, plus non-medical appointments and a long-awaited show at a local theater last night. Plus several work deadlines. Plus, of course, #1000wordsofsummer 2023.
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Photo credit: milivigerova on Pixabay
A much better day today. For one thing, I just finished, and it’s not even 11:40 p.m. So, relatively early night.
Second—and more importantly—I made actual progress. I did some editing, which went back to the ever-important question, Did I cut more than I wrote? But in the end, I ended up 1,000 words ahead of where I started, which is definitely a win.
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P. Jo Anne Burgh 