No Write Time

The weeks go by so fast.  It was just New Years and now January is over.  I am down to the last two weeks of working on MURDER INK.  I am tweaking and rewriting.  By now, it is my sole focus, which means I’m not reading or watching much TV.  My characters are in my head all the time and I know them well now.  Since it takes place in Chicago in October, that’s what I’m seeing when I work.  And then when I stop, I’m always a little surprised to look out the window and see the limes hanging on the tree outside.

The world doesn’t stop because I’m pushing toward a deadline.  There are endless interruptions, like family emergencies with trips to urgent care,  and all day babysitting.  I simply cannot shut the door on life and say I’m only going to do my work. 

My father was a writer and it was a big issue that he had to have the right place to write.  As if unless he had the perfect spot the words wouldn’t come.  I decided that I wanted to be able to write anywhere, anytime, which is lucky because that’s the way I have to roll.

Particularly when I’m under a deadline like now.  So, when I was the plus one for the car pool lane when my son had a meeting and since we were already half way there and even with the carpool lane there’d be rush hour traffic on the way back, so why not go to Disneyland.  We have yearly passes, so it’s not like a big investment to go there for the evening.  It’s full of color, music and people having a good time which makes for a nice environment.  Also a chance for me to get some walking in after all the sitting in front of my computer.  There was no way that I was going to take my laptop, but I could bring a hard copy of pages that I needed to go over to proof read and tweak.

Honestly, I didn’t know how it would work out.  With all that color and music along with all those people would I be able to concentrate.  I had the pages rolled up in my daypack, which is a small back pack and what I use when we go there instead of a purse.  Surprisingly, it was fine.  I could pull out the page and drop into the story and not even notice the storm troopers in Star Wars land until someone nudged me.

It was great.  Instead of thinking about my manuscript and being upset that I wasn’t working on it, I was getting it done. And showing myself once again that I could write anytime and anywhere
The only way to roll.