Is there any feeling more delicious than when a writing project is going well? Okay, I can think of a couple, but it’s not that kind of blog. Let’s keep it clean here, people.
As I mentioned in my post last Wednesday, I recently reached a point of being unwilling to wait out the pandemic any longer. I needed to write. And to write I need solitude. Not just quiet. Real aloneness.
Finding Some Aloneness
And so I’m back to getting up at 5am. It’s rough, and my days are clouded a bit by this fog of exhaustion, but it’s so freaking worth it.
My writing really flows in the morning. The part of my brain that likes to remind me that the dishes are piling up and the laundry needs to be done is still asleep at 5am. I sit down to write and it’s like I fall into the pages. I am gone. Three hours goes by like nothing.
Recruiting The Fam
Which leads me to the one upside of our new normal. Nobody in the family has to be anywhere at any particular time, so when I get to writing, I can keep at it. I flat out asked them all to leave me to it. My husband makes sure the kids are fed and I just stay in here in my office, typing away.
After about three hours I do start to feel a little fatigue. I try to stop at a place where I’m excited to keep writing, where I know what happens next, so that when 5am rolls around again I can get out of bed eager (yes, eager – at 5am) to get to it.
Filling In The Gaps
If I find a little extra time in the day (between homeschooling, laundry, exercise, and binge-watching Archer), I try to use the time to do research. I’m working on some historical fiction at the moment and there are a LOT of details I need to fill in, but I never stop to research while I’m writing. I just put XX to note where I don’t know a detail and move on.
Later, when I’m filling in the those details with my research, I’m in a totally different frame of mind. Much less creative, more problem solving. Answering specific questions about the construction of a log cabin, for instance, is a job that can be tackled in discrete units, in between tasks that have nothing to do with writing (cough*Archer).
And Onward
I’ve been working like this for two weeks now and I am floored how much work I’ve gotten done on my revisions. Yes, I’m super tired come the end of the day. I don’t care. Because I’m writing again.
And it feels so good.
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