July 12th 2014

Hi it’s Christina –

Good Morning! At least today I woke up at 4:30 instead of 3:30 like I’ve been for the past several days. Since I was planning on getting up at 5:00 anyway, I just got out of bed instead of trying to fall back to sleep.

I’ve been semi-productive so far. The dog’s been emptied. Bacon is slowly frying for the beans I need to make for the party later today. I’ve read and replied to our Camp NaNo cabin chat room, and I’m about to go and make my second cup of coffee.

I wanted to get the beans and the broccoli salad done, so I would be out of the kitchen before Lys got up and started futzing with the cake, but I was also hoping to hit 20K for my word count today, and I can’t write if someone else is up. I decided to compromise. I’m going to get the beans done, because they require me being at the stove as well as the oven, then I’ll write until Lys gets up. I can make the broccoli salad at one corner of the kitchen table, so I won’t be in her way.

I had a very strange experience while writing yesterday. I was writing this one scene, there was a lot of information and a lot of drama, and it felt like it was long, time wise, but when I was finished, it was only 500 words, Ugh, that doesn’t make sense, does it? I can’t figure out how to relay what I mean. Perhaps a whole lot happened in only 500 words?

I can easily write 500 words in ten minutes. I do it all the time at my writing group. If I’m really into a scene, my word count could be double in those same ten minutes. I was into the scene, I thought I had typed for twenty minutes straight without stopping, I got all the information down that needed to be, yet my word count was roughly a third of what I thought it was going to be, and that threw me. If it wasn’t for writing during NaNo, I wouldn’t have even paid attention to the word count. I would have just kept trucking along.

Something similar happened when I was writing Taking Chances, but in the reverse. I was writing this intense scene, for all of ten minutes. I was cognizant of only writing for a short time period. When I finished, I was white as a sheet, and even got physically sick. (It was a nasty scene – many people dead – it was gruesome, really not my style of writing.) When I went back to look at it, I was stunned to see I had written an entire chapter. 

I know, I’m weird, you don’t need to tell me. I guess writers’ brains are truly wired just a little differently. I can live with that. What I am having a little difficulty living with, is these little Twilight Zone episodes which occur while I’m writing.

DANG IT! I got up to make myself a second cup of coffee and I noticed my door was opened. The latch is getting old and sometimes it doesn’t close properly. Sure enough, the cats escaped. I found Mikey and was able to get him back in the house, but Sebastian is MIA. Now, I have to go and find my kitty. They are indoor cats, and are not allowed to go outside. I hope I can find him soon, because we live on a busy road. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something were to happen to him. The challenge is going to have to wait until tomorrow.

I hope you have a great day, and happy writing!

(Crisis was averted. I found Sebastian)