https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80NoPLp-Zl0
Nov. 30, 2016 – A full(ish) night’s sleep makes a world of difference. Hit the coffeeshop at 6:30 a.m. and hit Book 5 at 6:31. Hampered by a dying power cord (new one arrives today; thanks, Amazon Prime), but I got enough done to feel good about the day. Turning my attention now to eight (nine, ten?) hours of the day job, but can’t wait to get back to it. Whoopi-ty-aye-yay.
Nov. 29, 2016 – No sentences worth reading today, and certainly none worth writing. This is how I felt at work all day after last night’s proofing/revising slog. Tomorrow, though, back to Book 5. Woo freaking hoo.
Nov. 28, 2016 (my dad’s 90th birthday!) – Some might celebrate by eating cake. Me, I hit “send” on the proofs and revisions. Now, whiskey. Any old amateur can eat cake.
Nov. 27, 2016 – All day with the editing, first fixing the typos and little glitches, then on to the more substantive stuff. You think by now, I’d know it was a good idea to make a timeline before I wrote the book, or even as I was writing it. That way, I wouldn’t get questions on this ms. – just as I did on the last one, come to think of it – such as “Wouldn’t this happen on a weekend? And then wouldn’t the office be closed?” Thank all the gods ever worshipped in the history of humankind for copy editors. They catch my word crimes.
Nov. 26, 2016 – A new scene turned into a new chapter. Now working on a kickass ending. What’s kept me going all day? Why, those tried and true writing standbys from the way-back machine, the Ramones. Hey, ho!
Nov. 25, 2016 – Twenty days to deadline, and what am I doing? Adding new scenes. Oh, yes, I am. And deeply into the cheesy music phase of writing, too.
Nov. 23, 2016 – I could draw a bunch of shaky analogies as to how crafting the perfect sentence is like making the perfect pie crust, but that would involve way too much BS. At some point today, some writing will get done. But this time of year, the pies take priority. Crust is key. This recipe from the New York Times’ Melissa Clark works every time. Pay no attention to the amount of butter. Because pie.
Nov. 22, 2016 – Arrived home from a few days of traveling, and champing at the bit to get back to the ms. Zoomed up to the coffeeshop at 6:40 a.m. – late, late! – only to be greeted by the above. That awful sound you heard this morning? Me, screaming.
Nov. 19, 2016 – A walk in the woods today with this guy, during which all sort of possibilities arose. Bears. Monsters. Snakes. And with each dire scenario, a way to deal with it. Swords against the bears. Invisibility when the monsters appeared. As for snakes – “If there’s a snake, I want to see it!” That works, too. When do we lose it – not just the imagination, but the ingenuity, too? All this by way of saying, the next time I have trouble dreaming up a plot twist, I’m going to remember my walk in the woods with Charlie. He’d have no trouble at all.
INov. 18, 2016 – I had the great pleasure of singing my grandson to sleep tonight with the same song I used to sing to his dad – Stewball.