Things Get in the Way

So I was aiming for finishing up this section today and didn’t make it, for a variety of reasons.  At the time all this happened, I was pissed.  Like, come on, let’s go already.  But like all of writing, I’ve found that if I’m slowing down or things get in the way, sometimes I put them there (like scheduling appointments, for example); sometimes they’re unavoidable (I didn’t try to get the plague and lose a lot of sleep hacking out a lung); and, sometimes, if I’m a little distracted or don’t quite feel the drive at that second…it’s because I’m doing what I talked about yesterday: either explaining the story to myself or, somewhere deep in my brain, my unconscious has hold of an important piece of information that will become a major plot point, if I’ll only relax and let it come out.

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THE DAY

Like I said, didn’t start out well.  I was pretty tired, what with being sick all week and pushing myself to get through this introductory bit that I’m still not sure will stay.  (Thinking now that it will, though; I like where this is going.)  Got up a little grumpy, unmotivated, even thought about chucking it and taking a sick day.  But I forced myself to sit down and start writing.  Thought, heck, I can at least do 1k today and that will 1k more than I had yesterday.  Several interruptions, though: cleaning people, gutter people, a handyman who’s coming back tomorrow to install a new garage door.  Only the former took a lot of time, and I’m not the kind of person who ignores when people are in the house, though I do closet myself away and they know to do my room last.

Anyway, worked, wasn’t sure where this was going or if it would work, and then broke off at 1 p.m., with about 1300 words written, to go to the gym and strength training.  Did my usual 90 minutes of aerobics, then 30 minutes of strength.  Then errands.  Back home; started the challah, put the chicken in the oven, decided on the all-important Friday’s Cocktail, Golden Dawn.  Unfortunately, I forgot to add oj to the initial mix then drizzled it in.  Pretty, but I think the drink would taste better if the oj were evenly incorporated.

And then went back to work until just now, when I have to stop and finish up dinner prep and do this blog.

Oh, and I finished up with that piece of business I’ve been sitting on all week.

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WRITING OUT LOUD

Here’s another thing that working on this section and having to really think about why I wanted it so badly and where it was going: I came up with a much better, much more spot-on title.

So . . . GHOST IN THE MACHINE

Day 1: 4326

Day 2: 2085

Day 3: 3011

Day 4: 2652

Day 5: 3210

Blog Post: 930

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So, yeah, as you can see, I wrote quite a bit more this evening.  In fact, I didn’t want to stop, but I had also hit a good time to stop (you got to recognize those moments, too).  As I was writing tonight, I realized what I’d been struggling with all week and how to a) play fair with the reader, b) tie together all these disparate parts, and c) make the science work.  The latter requires just a touch more research (not much; about ten, fifteen more minutes), but it’s a good time to stop.  Let the idea marinate so I know exactly what I must include and what I can leave out. (That’s the problem with research; half of what you learn, you never tell or share.  You show it, if the story calls for it.  But sometimes all that research just hums away in the background of the story.)

But I will, for sure, finish this part tomorrow.  I even know the last line here, and that’s always a good thing.

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What I’m Watching:

The Art of More: another episode and a half

The Packer-Lions game: To be honest, I didn’t sit through this last night.  For one, I’d have been more exhausted than I always was this morning.  For another, the Packers were doing so bloody poorly, I couldn’t stand to watch.  So after a quick check of the score, I completely checked out of that game, though I did peek at FB every now and again to see how things were going.  (That’s the thing about my fellow FB Packers fans: we’re a vocal lot.)  So I knew they were getting killed.

Only this morning did I come to hear that they’d actually won.  In fact, several FB friends screamed at me last night about it.  So, this morning, I went and found the footage of the last few minutes.  Check out this Huffington Post article with a shot of that very controversial face mask call (it wasn’t) and the throw from one angle, and then this, from the Packer’s Facebook Page: