Ah, Wednesday. I had such plans for you. Unfortunately my procrastination got the better of me (get used to hearing that on Wednesdays). There are links to writerly people and a free ebook somewhere in this post (promise), but first a brief interlude as to why I didn’t get any writing done this week (well, not much that wasn’t blogging).
Here is the conversation that took place yesterday between MOH (My Other Half) and me (and yes, this is going somewhere — I think):
“Honey, great news! I bought a new motorcycle!”
I roll my eyes, wondering why, with two already, he needs a new one. I tell him my own great news, “I got two new ARCs today!”
MOH rolls his eyes, wondering why, with 500 books in the living room, I need two new ones. He tells me apologetically, “Uh, the thing is, I don’t have any place to store the bike, so it’s going to have to go in your writing room for the winter.”
Stunned silence. My writing room is already a storage room the size of a closet and full of things being stored (including my ambition and my creativity — hope to unpack those this weekend).
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” I tell him. Turns out he was kidding because he knows what’s good for him.
That’s good because there really is NO room in my “writing” room. And if you’re wondering why that is in quotes, here’s your answer. This is what it looked like last Thursday:
I’d show you the other wall, but it’s stacked with boxes so you’re not missing much. I managed to squeeze my desk, chair and monitor in where the boxspring was, but that’s as far as I got. I did manage to find the time to read posts by authors who probably got more writing done than I did this week:
Stephanie Vander Weide (formerly known as the recapper Keckler from Television Without Pity) wrote an article every writer can identify with (well, every writer I know): This Freelancing Life: Calliope’s Bitch
“Every time I sit down to an assignment, I’m completely convinced that this is the time when all words fail. This is the time when I realize that I’m a complete fraud, who has somehow gotten by for nine years pretending to be a writer.”
Karl Schroeder, who’s free ebook version of his novel Ventus I previously linked to, talks about the experience of listening to his own books in audio format:
“But the thing is, though I know what’s happening and what’s to come, and often wince at what I actually wrote down, the experience of hearing the story told by someone else actually changes it. For the very first time since I started writing, I’m having the (partial) experience of encountering my own work as a reader.”
It would be weird, but I’d love to have to option of listening to my own audiobook one day. For the similarly hopeful among you, J.A. Konrath (author of Whiskey Sour, also a previously featured free ebook) has put all of his observations and advice on writing in his free ebook download: The Newbie’s Guide To Publishing Book.
Maybe what I need is more hot weather to force me to type faster, like it forced Neal Stephenson to keep typing to finish his first book. Certainly A Novel Approach to Finishing a Book.
Back to writing — unless I see something shiny and get distracted. Oooh, look …
