Archive for May, 2010

OK, I’ve stalled out. The novel stares back at me with dead, soulless eyes and says “let me go” in a piteous, mewling whisper.

I haven’t written more than three lines in it for a week. Obviously, this isn’t working. With DayJeorb, family, house, and medical things going on, writing has become an occasional, if-I-feel-inspired-for-five-minutes-on-the-bus kind of thing. The only time I get a solid two hours to write — a basic minimum for me to be productive these days — is on the rare evening off. Looking at my writing folder is getting depressing.

Here’s what my average weekday looks like:

• 5:30: Wake up, get dressed, brush hair, and so on.
• 6:00: Do some dishes, eat breakfast, get bicycle ready.
• 7:00: Out the door.
• 7:45: Get to the office, prep for DayJeorb
• 8:00: DayJeorb
• 11:00: Get lunch, eat, write if possible with remaining time (this never happens)
• 12:00: DayJeorb
• 5:00: Get on bicycle, go home.
• 5:45: Relax for a little bit (thank you, Loreen!)
• 6:00-ish: Various combinations of family activities, dinner, playtime with Bee, and everything that can’t happen during the work day. At the end of it all, I read Bee some stories and put her to bed.
• 9:30-ish: Time in which I could write, if I had any brain power left (this never happens).

So, what to do when you need to write, but simply don’t have the blocks of time you need to write the novel you started the year so desperate to finish? I’m entirely open to suggestions. For the time being, I’m going to go back to my old sentence-a-day rule, so that if nothing else happens on any given day, I’ll have written at least one sentence of new prose. It’s something, if not ideal.

Beyond that, I’m kind of stuck.