Starting Over

I drove into work with Blair this morning. “So this is what this ‘work’ thing is like,” I said as I climbed into the passenger seat of the car. “Hmm. I’d forgotten.”

I’m meeting a friend in Winston for a writing session this morning and Blair and I have plans in Greensboro tonight, so it seemed a waste of time and gas to have both of us drive to Winston, both of us drive back to Madison at different times, and then drive into Greensboro together. Instead, I dropped Blair off at work and am tooling around Winston all day. Except ideally there will be no tooling. There will be novel writing and lots of it.

I’ve gotten off track, yet again. The thing with creative writing is that it needs to be done on a regular basis. Even going 2 days without working on the novel throws me out of the “zone,” and I have to spend time reorienting myself to the time and feel of the story. This week I’ve had some client work and lots of work for the agencies with which I volunteer and have let the novel writing take a backseat.

Bad writer! I know better. But I kept thinking, “I’ll have all day Friday to devote to it.” But writing is like exercise, best done even in small daily doses versus trying to shove a week full of missed workouts into a one-hour power session at the gym. Doesn’t work and leaves you feeling frustrated and exhausted.

So in a few minutes I’ll drive over to Borders and plant myself there for what I hope will be a solid 5-6 hours of writing time. Then a quick jaunt to Goodwill. I’m on the hunt for clothes for our trip to Egypt. I need long-sleeved cotton and linen blouses. I’m pretty sure I will never again wear most of the clothes I’m required to pack on this trip, so cheap is good.

I hope everyone has a marvelous Friday! Oh, and if you need a smile, this 2-minute video of a true-story reunion between a lion and the people who raised him will be sure to bring one to your face.