I tried for several hours to come up with something to write yesterday, and eventually admitted defeat and went to bed. Tonight is turning out to be much the same — I’ve scribbled a few notes, but it’s a scene I can’t write until I’ve done some research and some plot-rejiggering. I’ve hit the wall; I have to stop and research now.
I have a love/hate thing with research. When I want to avoid writing, research is the greatest thing ever. I can read about lots of random stuff, and pretend it’s all writing-related! But when I’d rather be writing, like now, research is a drag.
I’m finally caught up on transcribing the old handwritten bits of this book. Another four pages or so, and I’ll be caught up with the sequels, such as they are. (Still to go are the dozens of flagged bits of other books. But I don’t need those right now.)
Actual word count has gone down somewhat, because several more pieces got moved to the Cutting Room Floor. I don’t really need to keep that folder in these files anymore, since Scrivener keeps things in the Trash in case you want to retrieve them. Still, the CFR file makes me feel better, like maybe someday these scenes will be part of the DVD extras. They won’t, of course. They in no way deserve to, being both badly written and peripheral to the plot. This is just one of the delusions I use to trick myself while writing. Otherwise the novel becomes the Pit of Despair on a nightly basis.
Wasted quite a bit of time adding cool things found in Locus to my Amazon wish list. Due to the vagaries of the postal service, I’ve just received my second issue in two weeks. Whereas the last one looked like it had traveled through several war zones and had lost part of its protective paper cover, this one arrived pristine, with all its little sticky closures intact. Go figure.
I probably should stop reading Locus. It doesn’t do me any good to know which editors are buying what, since at the moment I have nothing to send them. And I do not need more things to read, thankyouverymuch.
And yet….
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