Monday, July 07, 2008

Back to work... back to reality....

Mes Amis

Lately - as some of you may be aware - I took a somewhat enforced break from all my current projects. Everything's back to normal now and it wasn't anything deathly serious, but it put a serious crimp in my progress. And its left me chomping at the bit to even get back to the day job (yeah, you'd think anyone would welcome time off, eh? But as I've been told before, I'm one of those people who can just never relax).

And its shown me something: this writing for just ten minutes a day rule that I used to hear about is dead on. The one that says you must write for at least ten minutes a day or you'll lose the "writing muscles".

Having not written a single word or even been able to really think about writing for approximately ten days, I was looking forward to coming back refreshed to the keyboard. Figured the project I had been working on before the delay* had been going so well that getting back would be a breeze.

And what do I find?

Everything
is
stumbling
badly.

I know what I want to do with the book. Have a pretty good idea of where I'm going. Its the final quarter. Its ready and raring to go. There's big stuff ahead that I want to get to. And yet I can't get the set up right. What was all ready to go is now...

having
to
be
forced

And its tough enough that I've started writing words like lists for emphasis.

But I console myself with the thought:

ten minutes a day.
Every day.

I'll work it back. I'll get the energy and get the groove. And I hope that when its done, this project's gonna be a killer. The new deadline I've given myself should help, too. I like deadlines. I like pressure. I like hitting the bastards on the button.

Although now that I'm cutting back on coffee... will I still be staying awake to hit them like before?

Au revoir

Russel

*A stand alone called CONFESS that now has changed its name to FALLING - you shall learn no more about it, so don't even ask

4 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

It's just like the weight you gain on a vacation, it's easily taken off. That writing muscle will firm up quickly.

Russel said...

I guess it does at that.

On the plus side, had a revelation that actually cemented a motivation which had been troubling me and solves the problems I'd been having with the previous drafts around the same point. Of course, if I can just get the energy back...

Sandra Ruttan said...

Just don't be too hard on yourself. You gave us a bit of a scare - I'm just glad everything is going to be fine.

angie said...

Poor, poor Russel! Still, you're back on course & I've no doubt you'll be amazed (in a good way) when all is said & done. Patti's right - that writing muscle will be back in shape faster than you think. Am I the only one who thinks that sounds vaguely naughty? I think you need another metaphor...