MirandaKennealy tweeted something the other day about how she spends more time getting ready to write than she does actually writing. I know exactly what she means. Today is supposed to be “my day”, the day my husband has off work, and has promised that he will chase our 3yo around the house, fix meals, and take care of whatever else comes up so I can hide away at my upstairs desk and write!
So what have I done? Well, I did talk and share hugs and kisses with the 3yo before sending her downstairs to Daddy. I played fetch with the cat. I brushed my teeth and got dressed. I added water to the crock pot I’m using as a humidifier, which helps this lingering cough from the nasty cold I’m getting over. I moved all the toys and stuff from the desk corner of my bedroom. I took out the trash. I cleaned said desk, although I left all those pink sticky notes over on one side. One of them is an old shopping list I am now using as a coaster. Another is a scribble reminding me of something funny Tiffany Reisz said to me on twitter after I told her she scares me. I set up both laptops “dueling style” on my desk so that I can do internet stuff (oh, so distracting) while supposedly finishing my WIP, Under the Radar. The old laptop, which is great for word processing but not much more, is set up in the “primary” position where I can comfortably write. The not-so-old laptop is set off to the side, and I am popping back and forth between this blog entry and twitter while eating the biscuits my wonderful hubby made for breakfast topped with apple butter my 12yo brought home from her school’s bake sale to benefit Japan. I light a couple of candles, which are as much of a distraction as they are a calming influence. I start my “AB Writing” playlist on the ipod hooked up to speakers by the bed, and briefly think how I’ve been meaning to re-do that list. The order is all screwed up. I need a service who will take my playlist and organize it so I don’t end up mellowing out to Stevie Nicks just to hear Trace Adkins growl and shout the next moment. I look up Miranda on twitter so I know how many n’s and l’s are in Kenneally, and then I go to her website and copy the address so I can link it here. I attempt to twitter-stalk Sara Megibow, but it looks like she hasn’t tweeted lately.
What’s going on in the twittersphere at this moment? Dr. Ruth just tweeted “I tell people to be very careful about allowing others into your bed because you never know what the result might be.” Ah. Good advice, even though Dr. Ruth does not have the little “check” next to name that means twitter has verified it really is her. It could be anybody claiming to be the bold and dimunative sex therapist. Kirstie Alley and Maksim Chmerkovskiy are bantering, and many other Dancing With the Stars pairs are tweeting to promote tonight’s show. Astro Paolo (AKA Paolo Nespoli) is tweeting in both Italian and English as he shares photos from the International Space Station. Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran are promoting their current tour. A bunch of writers are sharing various links they think will be interesting to other writers. For now, I’m not clicking. I want to publish this blog entry, announce it on twitter and facebook, then get working on Under the Radar.
OK, I am clicking. Marie Sexton just posted something labeled NSFW and… Great Googly Mooglies! That’s explicit! I never know what I’ll get from Marie, but the NSFW label should have given me a clue. And more distractions… several cats (I have five, and most of them like to be nearby while I’m writing) and the dog now too. Our 3yo keeps bouncing upstairs to check on me, even though she’s supposed to stay downstairs with Daddy today. Apparently Mommy must be the one to fix her party hat, even though Daddy has the tape and is offering to do it.
It’s noon. The cats have found comfortable perches close by. The dog and the 3yo have gone back downstairs. Under the Radar sits open on the old laptop, currently at 83,693 words, and I’m guessing it will end up over 100.000 when it’s done. I am now taking bets on how many words I’ll get done before midnight tonight. I’ll keep you posted.
AmyBeth Inverness 
LOL. I’ll give you a hint: the number of exclamation points after the NSFW is generally somewhat indicative of the naughtiness therein. 😉
I’m currently in a bit of a lag in my current WIP and spend way too much time sitting here staring at it and not nearly enough actually writing. So far today, I’ve written exactly 248 words. Not exactly a kick-ass kind of day.
My problem with getting behind in a WIP is twofold…
Primarily, I’ve learned that if I let it go too long, the “next” story begins to encroach, and it becomes more and more difficult for me to finish the current project. Right now, “Lala Land” is knocking on the inner walls of my skull, dying to get out, but I insist on finishing “Under the Radar” first.
Secondly, this writing is no longer a “Just for fun, someday…” kind of thing. I promised my husband I would send it to an agent, so I plan to edit during May and send a query letter soon after. I have to finish, because I made a promise to the man I love!
Well, you may not get any WIP writing done, but I am already jealous of your ability to write and post an entertaining blog post before noon. 😉
Am also jealous that you can click Marie’s NSFW links and not have sirens go off and a SWAT team show up at your house and break your door down. (Okay, there aren’t really sirens or SWAT teams, but a big red warning does pop up that says basically “We know you’re looking at porn on company time, you pervert!” And now I’m thinking of hot, sweaty SWAT teams….) I have to save the links up for after work, or if really desperate, whip out the other computer and look them up there, which leads to endless non-work related clicking, and blog commenting, and…oh, I’m pretty much doing that now, aren’t I? Back to the grind.) ~slinks away quietly~
I’m glad you thought the post was entertaining! I’ve found that blogging can be a terribly narcissistic activity, and I worry that there’s a lot of eye-rolling going on amongst my readers.
The other night, I forgot that my 12yo had not yet gone to bed when I clicked one of Marie’s links, and I had to hurriedly hit the “X” (not the rating… the X that closes the window) before she came back into the room!
Now, to see if Marie can find us a picture of a sweaty, shirtless SWAT team…
They’re not too sweaty, but does this pic I posted on CoP count?
http://cupoporn.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/dont-ask-dont-tell/
You found them! Very NSFW, but nice *ahem* research!
Oh, so NOT a productive day. Good for the blog, bad for the WIP. The worst part (or maybe it will turn out all right…) is that “Lala Land” won and I started putting words down after only adding about 700 words to “Under the Radar”.
So, about 700 words in the WIP, and 500 words for “Lala Land” means anyone betting on me writing 1,000-2,000 words got it right.