For the Win

“Everyone sleeps well at the cabin,” Andy commented when I joined him in the kitchen this morning a little after six to make an egg sandwich and pour myself a cup of coffee while he got ready to leave for work. Last night we made the impromptu decision to throw together some food, clothes and other belongings and head up to the cabin for a couple nights. After Andy left, I decided to get a little more good sleep and headed back to bed for two hours before dragging myself out of the bedroom and into the realm of productivity. I threw a hunk of chuck into the crockpot with some onions, carrots, cabbage and potatoes, took a shower, and booted up the computer to get to work.

Maybe it was the knowledge that I don’t have to be at work until 3 in the afternoon on Tuesday. (Yay!) Maybe it was the comfy couch in the roomy living room with large windows looking out on the snow falling steadily on the frozen lake. Or it could have been the comforting smell being emitted by the crockpot. Whatever it was, I revised an entire chapter in one sitting, and this was one of the longer chapters. Usually I spend about a week on each chapter. I spent five hours revising the chapter. Then I spent the two minutes deleting the next chapter in its entirety. Of course, the deletion means I next need to write a brand new scene but my knowing to delete the following chapter as well as having in my head the events that will replace the deleted scene solves yet another structural issue.

I’m sure the momentum I’m currently experiencing with the novel stems from finally working through the mucky middle and reaching the building point of the novel’s pinnacle. The main character’s no longer so cerebral and is beginning to change. It’s been fun to turn the sloggy rough draft of this WIP into a story that builds on itself and now that I’m getting closer and closer to completing the current revision, I’m anxious to get to the end so I can print out the story and actually hold it in my hands. Because I knew quite a bit needed to get moved around, deleted or otherwise modified in the rough draft, it made little sense to print out the rough draft since it’s easier to deal with such major edits on screen. Now that everything’s falling into the proper order, I want to read the story on paper instead of on screen.

I need to head into town tomorrow for a couple interviews so I did a bit of thinking and researching for interview questions too today. After a couple years away from routine interviews it’s taken me a little while to get back into holding effective and efficient interviews, but I’ve felt less like a dithering idiot in the last interviews I’m done and I think I’ll try to make that a trend. No one wants to be a dithering idiot.

My Bylines 2010 Writer’s Desk Calendar came in the mail on Friday and I have to say, even though I’ve read multiple praises for the calendar, I wasn’t sure what could make a day planner so phenomenal. I mean, it’s a day planner. But honestly, the calendar is just as wonderful as everyone gushes. There are places to write down mileage, goals, notes, and submissions. There are biographies of everyday writers and lists of holidays and helpful websites. I can do away with my complex system of tracking various writing goals and accomplishments on Post-its, and pages in various notebooks. Now it can all be kept in one compact little volume. I wasn’t paid to say this, but needless to say, I’m impressed.

The snow’s picking up outside. The meteorologists were probably correct in saying we’ll have a couple new inches before the day’s end. With the days growing brighter and longer, I don’t mind this freshening new bit of snow at all.