And yes, we’re doing that Tuesday night writing thing at Remedy Teas. 7 PM.
Yesterday I didn’t write like how I’d planned on writing. I just couldn’t seem to get into the groove. But around 5 PM I found that I was telling myself that I was going to be writing at 7. Where did that come from? I *never* used to write at night. Now — it’s habit. Something I look forward to. I only managed about 1000 words, but they were mostly good words.
I re-read some of my earlier posts about this novel, and the OTT excitement I had about it. I still remember that thrilling rush I had every time I sat down to write. Some of that has disappeared. I’ve been puzzling why, and I realized it’s because the last two chapters were more about plot and moving the story along than because I wanted to put these characters into situations and see what sparks flew. I knew that I needed to get X information across, that Y had to happen for the plot. Some of the rush is gone because the writing is more about craft right now than about discovering what new and crazy things are about to happen. Don’t get me wrong — I still love this novel. I just need to push myself more, to dig deeper, be more creative and more joyful.
I honestly haven’t a clue what is going to happen in the next chapter. There’s one thing that has to happen, but beyond that. . . So instead of trying to plan it, I’m just going to sit down and start writing it. I may have a couple of false starts, but I’m just going to wing it. Stop planning and just play.
I also woke up this morning coughing and my head is congested. Much of my family was sick or recovering from illness when I went to see them. I don’t want to admit that I might be coming down with something, but that would explain much of my inability to focus yesterday.