Writing Routine

I'm trying to establish a writing routine.

This morning I read a scene in The Ghost Writer, by Philip Roth, where a character who is a famous author describes his writing routine:

"I turn sentences around. That's my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it and I turn it around again. Then I have lunch. Then I come back in and write another sentence. Then I have tea and turn the new sentence around. Then I read the two sentences over and turn them both around. Then I lie down on my sofa and think. Then I get up and throw them out and start from the beginning."

OK, so I don't want that routine.

Writers I admire put in 8 hours days of writing. I don't seem to be able to do that. I goof around for a while before I get started. Then, once I start, I can write about 2500 words in one sitting, or one scene, or about two to three hours. But then I trail off. I have a hard time getting started in another scene on the same day.

The good news is that I've started planning other things I'll get done in a day, so I'm not wasting my non-writing hours staring at the screen wishing I were writing, or screwing around on the Internet. I hope it's like working out, that I'll start to be able to do more in a day as I work at it.

Day Count: 4

Mad at My Husband

I was ticked off at my husband this morning. Turns out it was unjustified. I had set something down, carefully, last night, and it wasn't there this morning. I was annoyed that he had moved it, and annoyed in anticipation of finding it carelessly disturbed, expecting it would take some work to fix it. Typical.

And then I found it someplace else, in the place where I had actually carefully set it down last night, unmoved and undisturbed. And I wondered how often I get irritated with my husband when he hasn't actually done anything irritating. And I wonder how that colors our relationship. Seems like we'd both be happier if I could stop it.

Fairy Party

My daughter lost a tooth on Saturday. Very big stuff when you're seven. But she prefers to keep her teeth, rather than giving them over to the tooth fairy. This is also very big stuff when you're seven. It takes a lot of soul searching to reach this decision. My husband and I helped out by offering to give her a dollar out of our own pockets. We even offered to slip it under her pillow, the way the tooth fairy would have. Although she found it hilarious to try to imagine us trying to pretend to be the tooth fairy, she accepted our offer.

But there is another problem. She doesn't want to hurt the tooth fairy's feelings. So instead of leaving the tooth, she thought maybe she could leave a present for the tooth fairy, maybe a necklace or a bracelet. One thing led do another, and she ended up planning an entire party for the tooth fairy and all of her friends.

So we dragged a little pink and yellow doll house into the living room last night. She set up an array of Polly Pocket ball gowns and shoes for dancing. She set out some troll clothes she thought might be suitable as soccer uniforms, and made a soccer ball out of modeling clay. She set out some small boxes of raisins for refreshments, and filled the little plastic doll house refrigerator with diced up bits of Twizzlers. She made a trampoline out of a plastic bag, and made a sign cautioning that no more than 19 fairies should be on it at a time, for safety's sake. She even set out a little white plastic bin, and marked it as the "potty." She figured that would be especially important if any of the fairies brought children to the party.

This morning she was dazzled to see evidence that the fairies came to her party. Dresses and shoes and soccer uniforms were all moved, apparently discarded where the fairies had left them. The Twizzlers were mostly gone, and a box of raisins had been opened. She checked the potty, but there was no fairy waste, so she's not sure what to make of that. But we were all relieved not to have to clean up any fairy poop.

Naturally, the party isn't over. She has written a sign, letting the fairies know they can come back all week. This time she specifically invited children, and drew their attention to the potty. She is making some fairy-sized dishes, so she can leave some juice for them tonight. So, if you know any fairies, let them know the party is at our house!

Starting to Write a Novel

I've decided to write a romance novel. It's not something I'd ever aspired to. But I went back to school for a couple of years, had a long commute and a couple of very boring classes, and then one day, I realized I had an entire book in my mind.

This actually happened once before, a year ago, and I never did anything about it, and then I forgot the story line. So this time, I decided to see what would happen if I wrote some of it down.

What happened is that I had a wonderful time. What came out on paper was very much like what I had in my head. And then I discovered that I would rather write my schlocky romance novel than finish my school projects. So I set the novel aside for a few months to finish school. But I graduated on Saturday. And now it's time to pick up the book again.

Of course, I lost track of where I was, and the characters aren't so lively in my mind as they once were. I'm hoping it will come back to me once I pick up writing again.

And I have a plan. I went to a conference put on by the Wisconsin chapter of Romance Writers of America. Great conference. And someone told me about a club called the 100 x 100 club. Members commit to writing at least 100 words a day, for 100 days. If you miss a day, you have to start your day count over. Of course, I would rather write several thousand words a day, and I imagine I will. But I can see now the value in not ever missing a day. So here I go.

Day Count: 0