Wednesdays are a "half day" in my daughters' school district. This means I have only a few hours that day to get things done before my entire afternoon gets consumed by homework, straightening up after The Tornado (my youngest), and cooking an early dinner so we can take it with us to karate classes, which takes ALL AFTERNOON. No joke. It really blows.
So, given my afternoons are always a wash when it comes to creativity, I was a bit panicked when my own chores during school hours took longer than anticipated. I had no time to write yesterday. Not a moment.
My new personal deadline of writing one sucky chapter a week was in danger of being blown the exact same week in which I had set the deadline (as I had previously blogged about) and I was pissed.
So, in an effort to save some of what's left of my self respect and ambition, when I packed our dinner, the sparring gear, the girl's math worksheets and my purse into the car for our FOUR HOUR stay at the karate studio (you can tell how much I love this new schedule), I also packed my lap top for a writing experiment.
Writing Experiment #335: The Hypothesis: iPod blaring loud classical music in my ears, chair in the corner of the studio so kids and parents aren't constantly brushing passed my knees, and my lap top perched on my lap.
Can I write under those conditions? Would I be able to concentrate with thirty kids shouting, kicking, punching, wrestling, and sweating? Would I be able to drown out the constant barking from their instructor? Would I be able to think clearly with one of my daughters asking me questions about their math homework? How much focus could I muster? Enough to write a scene? Two scenes?
The Answer: That day, yes. But ONLY after I took a few minutes break and walked over to the Starbucks and got myself, you guessed it, a cup of coffee.
Once again I am reminded how I can only seem to write worth a crap when I have a cup of java in my hand.
I admit it. I'm addicted.
Better this than cigarettes, or booze, I suppose.
And good for me, I only seem to abuse this addiction when I'm writing. Otherwise, I don't really need a cup of coffee.
Diet Coke will do.
But for writing, coffee, it must be.
Anyways, the moral of the story is, I worked today on Chapter Three to fine tune and word smith the scenes I wrote while in karate class yesterday, and it wasn't all that bad. In fact, it was down right satisfactory -- which is the biggest compliment I'll pay a first draft.
Of course, I reserve the right to hate every single word when it's finished and I have to go back for draft #2.
Until then, I am now off to complete my daily chores, because as much as I'd like to be one of those people who can devote 100% of their brain power to a book, writing non-stop until it's completed to perfection -- I am not one of those people.
Besides, I don't have any coffee.
So, given my afternoons are always a wash when it comes to creativity, I was a bit panicked when my own chores during school hours took longer than anticipated. I had no time to write yesterday. Not a moment.
My new personal deadline of writing one sucky chapter a week was in danger of being blown the exact same week in which I had set the deadline (as I had previously blogged about) and I was pissed.
So, in an effort to save some of what's left of my self respect and ambition, when I packed our dinner, the sparring gear, the girl's math worksheets and my purse into the car for our FOUR HOUR stay at the karate studio (you can tell how much I love this new schedule), I also packed my lap top for a writing experiment.
Writing Experiment #335: The Hypothesis: iPod blaring loud classical music in my ears, chair in the corner of the studio so kids and parents aren't constantly brushing passed my knees, and my lap top perched on my lap.
Can I write under those conditions? Would I be able to concentrate with thirty kids shouting, kicking, punching, wrestling, and sweating? Would I be able to drown out the constant barking from their instructor? Would I be able to think clearly with one of my daughters asking me questions about their math homework? How much focus could I muster? Enough to write a scene? Two scenes?
The Answer: That day, yes. But ONLY after I took a few minutes break and walked over to the Starbucks and got myself, you guessed it, a cup of coffee.
Once again I am reminded how I can only seem to write worth a crap when I have a cup of java in my hand.
I admit it. I'm addicted.
Better this than cigarettes, or booze, I suppose.
And good for me, I only seem to abuse this addiction when I'm writing. Otherwise, I don't really need a cup of coffee.
Diet Coke will do.
But for writing, coffee, it must be.
Anyways, the moral of the story is, I worked today on Chapter Three to fine tune and word smith the scenes I wrote while in karate class yesterday, and it wasn't all that bad. In fact, it was down right satisfactory -- which is the biggest compliment I'll pay a first draft.
Of course, I reserve the right to hate every single word when it's finished and I have to go back for draft #2.
Until then, I am now off to complete my daily chores, because as much as I'd like to be one of those people who can devote 100% of their brain power to a book, writing non-stop until it's completed to perfection -- I am not one of those people.
Besides, I don't have any coffee.
No comments:
Post a Comment