The great rush towards the

June 20th 2002 at 12:24 pm

The great rush towards the end is in progress. Day 3 of my 4 days vacation to write the novel. On Tuesday I got started late (slept in, tuckered Toby) and then spent a couple hours cleaning my office and organizing my desk (’my procrastination stage, Em called it). But the desk was filled with heaps of papers, bills, old drafts, magazines, receipts, that sort of shit. It all needed gone. So I didn’t wake up until 1pm (haven’t slept in that late for 3 months. Imagine, that used to be the time I -woke up-) and I didn’t start writing until desk cleaning and eating and stuff was done at 4pm. Then we had to go grocery shopping. So Tuesday resulted in a mere ~1000 words, but a restful, organized Toby.

Wednesday, yesterday, I did better. Was up and exercised, washed and fed, by 10pm or so. Started working on the novel. Had in 1200 words by lunch. Most of the words were scattered among earlier chapters that I went back to and added and revised because of a realization on chapter 58 that something was about to happen that I had not foreshadowed in the least (except on the outline and in my own head). Took break. Emily needed to go visit her mom to pick up some stuff we left there last weekend. So I went along with laptop and headphones in passenger’s seat. Wrote 1000 words on the drive up. Wrote 1000 words on the drive down. Productive. Even edited past chapters.

Would have added the 400 more measly words I needed to pass 80,000 on the novel, but chose to curl up with Tim Power’s latest book ‘Declare.’ This is the second time through. I read it in a bookstore quick so that I could read it without paying for it (ah, the joys of being broke), but I found it at a bookstore in an outlet mall the other day for a good price (they also had Neil Gaiman’s American Gods there for $8 hardcover, but I had to go with Declare, because I already knew I would like it and it would make for good reading).

Now I can savor Declare at a slower pace. Which is what I did for an hour last night.

Actually, what I’m doing is taking advice Powers gave me. Seriously. Take some time for yourself. Don’t forget to read. Then work hard.

Work hard play hard is a Toby motto. I write a lot, I can read a lot or play my latest game (Starlancer, good game. Hmmmmm).

;-)TB

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