Notes & Procrastination

I've been a bad blogger. I spent most of the week on the coach writing on my Alphie. Not actually writing per say, more like transferring every last note or scribbled scene idea I had on Brimstone from my notebook onto the alphie. It looked like I was diligently at work. In truth, I think I was procrastinating. No, I know I was procrastinating.

I wasn't sure quite how to rebuild the scenes I had lost to the Great Computer Crash of May 2006. And I knew things had changed so much of what I had written needed to be redone. But I froze. The book was working so well up until now, what if I mucked it all up in the third act?? Ruined everything I had accomplished so far? I'm not ready to jump in and write new scenes! AHHHH!!!

So after my little mini-meltdown, I told myself to start off slow. Sit down and just hash out one scene. Which I did. Then decided it was pure crap. I read it over today for the first time and was pleased to discover the scene worked perfectly fine and needed only a little wordsmithing, but at the time it felt like crap. So I grabbed my notebook to see what scenes I had lost that might be saved longhand. The love scene. Great. Whew. I typed it up. Then I typed up every other scene I had written longhand but not yet used. I had no idea exactly where these scenes would fit in. They were random, ideas that popped into my head at odd times that I just threw down on paper. I have a file folder full of them. I pulled out the ones that I thought I could use and into the Alphie they went.

Then I spent another morning finishing my critique partner's manuscript and making notes on that.

Then I ran out of things to do.

Today, I had to face the computer. I had to open the notes I and start constructing and reconstructing. The more I read of the notes, the more Act III began to evolve in my head. I stuck scenes in, made indications what scenes I needed but didn't have yet, began to feel a little better.

I have a four day weekend coming up starting this Friday. My goal is to do 7-10 pages a day. I have someone I met randomly who is giving me free of charge a knitting machine and a bunch of yarn on Friday, the running clinic Saturday, and then a 5K race on Sunday. So maybe 10 pages a day might be a bit much to expect, but I'm going to expect it anyway.

Meanwhile, the great Pedometer Challenge continues. As of yesterday I was over 33,000 steps ahead of my nearest competitor. Last night, I dragged the treadmill from my writing room to in front of the TV. The competition is goin' down...