First let’s start with an ideal day.
5:30 am Rise and rush to the keyboard brimming with ideas and write 1000 words before breakfast
7:30 am Take the dog for a walk and celebrate the beautiful day
8 ish Eat breakfast, spend time in The Word
8:45 am Check emails with lightning speed and post a wildly happy post to Facebook because I’ve practically already met my writing target for the day (if I’m not writing two books at the same time and horribly behind schedule)
9:00 am Reread what I wrote before breakfast and not think it’s horrible
9:30 am Write, write, write…words flying from my fingertips onto the screen. Okay, I did start by saying this was an ideal writing day… the kind I haven’t had since before I learned how a publishable novel is “supposed” to be crafted. Before I learned all those “rules” of how to write a good story. Before I had an email inbox the size of Mount Everest.
Enough said. Let’s move on to a typical day.
6:30 am Wake up a little bleary-eyed because I foolishly stayed up reading until midnight or 1 am, but after going to the bathroom decide that since I’m awake I might as well stay up. If I’m smart and self-disciplined, I don’t check emails, but turn on a software screen called Omni which features a blank screen except for a few barren trees along the bottom and soft music in the background.
Then I write my next scene, or if I haven’t figured out what happens in my next scene, I write about what needs to happen. On wonderful days, I can write about 750 words before the rest of the household begins to stir.
Things fall apart from there!
Most days the dog does get her walk. Emails usually take much longer to read and respond to. Then of course, if my characters aren’t cooperating and the words just aren’t flowing as they should…
You know what, there is no such thing as a typical day. I write at all hours. My most creative and productive times are usually later in the evening.
I tend to devote afternoons to editing or responding to the art department’s questions or reader’s questions or interviewer questions or the myriad of marketing-related tasks that go along with being published.
And most days I love it all.
Some days I wonder why I torture myself. Okay, during the first draft stage, I tend to have a lot of those days. LOL
But the days when words fly from my fingerprints and tidbits that I threw into the story on a whim suddenly and serendipitously tie together, are pure bliss.
Your Turn: What makes routine day special for you?
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For me a routine day is special when I find enough time to sink into the story world and find the magic in the writing. It doesn’t happen all that often. A lot of the time I’m rushing to find the time to write. But when it does happen, that’s when the day becomes special.
Oh, yes!
Last night an idea for my story crowbarred me out of sleep at midnight and kept me at the computer until 1 am. I’ve learned to run with the inspiration, especially since after going back to bed, I had another idea, and this morning I can’t for the life of me remember what it was. I’ve got to get that pad and paper back beside my bed!
Yes, you DO need to get that pad and pencil beside your bed!!
To make a routine day special, I need time to read that book that has been waiting for me to sit down long enough! Another way is to be able to start that long awaited knitting project, or to be able to complete the one I have been working on.
LOL, I hope you enjoy the book! Your mention of knitting has made me miss the days I’d sit in the evening and do one craft or another. It’s been a long time (since before I blew the disk in my back). Hmm…maybe I should dig one of those unfinished projects out. 🙂 What knitting project is on your horizon?!
I love the ideal day vs. the typical day. So true.
Some days we go crazy, but like you said, “And most days I love it all.” I do too.
Great post, Sandra!
Thanks, Loree…and glad to hear I’m not the only one that has those crazy days!
I wondered when I first read this and then I laughed! Phew! You aren’t super woman after all!
LOL, not even close. 🙂
Like I said, so lucky to be retired! ;-P
Seriously, I know that writing can be very much a chore – but it is (hopefully) a labour of love!
Since this blog was aimed at my nasty and evil “retired” comment to Sandra in FB a few days back, I will amplify. I’m jealous of your ability to engage in the act of creating something that you believe in. I find myself “trapped” in a job which I’m pretty good at, but in which I’ve had very little to no joy in too many years already – my “ideal” days are normally weekends and vacations, and my ideal moments normally occur when I walk out of the office. I’m thinking that a number of other life changes currently in process may give me the impetus to escape the treadmill… but not likely to send me into writing!
May you have many more ideal days, and even more ideal moments in the reality days :-).
B
thanks Brian, and praying many joyful days to come for you!
Sorry I’m a *few* days behind on reading this, Sandra–but had to comment and say I LOVE this blog post! Oh…how nice if those “Ideal Days” really did exist….But I’m so very thankful for the days when my writing flows and those words come easily (AND when I’m pleased with those words, LOL). Of course, I’ve “cried on your shoulder” more than a few times when my days weren’t quite so–um…”ideal” *wink*. Thanks for sharing this post! Hugs, Patti Jo