I knew I was going to have a tough one today. We were getting new solar panels installed. The inverter on the original array finally packed it in and I figured we might as well upgrade since the technology had come along a bit in the last 12 years.
The tradies turned up on time. Yay! But it was a big job and they were here for most of the day, which meant interruptions to power, lots of drilling and hammering and other random disruptions. All of which meant I never really got a head of steam up.
Something I've recently come to understand about my writing is that it accelerates. I get a lot more words on the page in the last hour of work than I do in the first. But only if I can build momentum, hour after hour.
Today? Yeah, nah, not so much. I realised I was completely off my game when I looked at the chapter I was writing and saw that I’d shifted point of view at least three times in six hundred words.
You can get kicked out of the writer’s union for that sort of shit
Part of me wonders whether I would have been better off just giving up and watching some TV or reading a book. I can justify both, you know. Writer’s union rules. What? What are you looking at? Of course I can.
Anyway, I find myself here at the end of the day with less than a thousand words written and no real prospect of doing more. I never got to press the accelerator all the way down. Instead of beating myself up, though, I'm gonna go have a look at the readout on my new solar inverter and enjoy all of the power I am stealing from the Sun Gods.
That's a tough day. I think you should go cuddle Lily the Christmas Kitten and work on your petting KPIs. That cuddling deadline won't meet itself you know.
Totally get it, both with solar panels and writing. A. I need to upgrade my panels. B. If I don't have a three or four hour uninterrupted block of time it's tough to get moving.
Yeah, and if you dont get moving early, you get dragged under by the existential weight of knowing that you haven't given yourself enough runway to take off.
Some days just get in the way of themselves. When the sun gods are putting photons in the house devices, it can be hard to even find the runway. I too had distractions yesterday - zero words produced but some good thinking done in the garden! Taxi-ing for launch right now.
That's a tough day. I think you should go cuddle Lily the Christmas Kitten and work on your petting KPIs. That cuddling deadline won't meet itself you know.
On another note, I just received my copy of The Organised Writer. All I need now is a copy of The Organised Reader to find time to read it.
Totally get it, both with solar panels and writing. A. I need to upgrade my panels. B. If I don't have a three or four hour uninterrupted block of time it's tough to get moving.
Yeah, and if you dont get moving early, you get dragged under by the existential weight of knowing that you haven't given yourself enough runway to take off.
Some days just get in the way of themselves. When the sun gods are putting photons in the house devices, it can be hard to even find the runway. I too had distractions yesterday - zero words produced but some good thinking done in the garden! Taxi-ing for launch right now.
Not too many photons here at the moment. So the writing's been good on the bridge novel.