A writing day

In case you're wondering why I am still not back consistently to my longtime ritual of every-weekday-at-dawn postings, I've been hard at work on a novel when I haven't been sourcing materials for the house and generally trying to keep up with life.  And laundry! I don't know what it is with laundry, but it just keeps needing to be done.  More so, when you are taking advantage of an indoor pool and gym equipment, the better to justify your condo maintenance fees.

Let's just accept for a moment that writing days don't usually look like this, okay?

Carving out time to write when everybody needs you is a challenge, and it was an incredibly rare thing to find I could take today just for me and my book. And I resolved to make it all about the book, all day long, but sometimes you have to step aside and think about where things are going.  It's good to work on a sock or some other mindless project when you're doing that.

Or, you know, let your giraffe friend Sophia hang out with the project.

Most writers feel grateful to have just a few productive hours in a day - I'm lucky to be able to fill an entire day with words, some of which actually get to stay in the story, if given the opportunity.  I think it happens because I am so thwarted so much of the time... the story writes itself in my head for days, weeks, even months before I get to pour it out onto what passes for paper in this crazy modern world.

I often think I should be able to make time every day, the same way we are supposed to take time for ourselves.  You know what I mean - when much of your life is occupied with giving to others in one form or another, it's important to give back to yourself too.  I think a lot of us here do that by giving to others through the comforting repetition of yarn into loops and while that is fabulous (or we wouldn't do it) it is sometimes not enough.  For me, it's definitely not enough! I really need to write.

So it seems silly of me not to write every day, beyond the writing I do here at Hugs.  I mean, I find time for the antique market (more on that tomorrow!)  But the simple fact is, I don't have time for much these days, and the antique market usually does triple duty as a rare outing and social time as well as fitting out the condo and sourcing stuff for the house.  A condo neighbour asked me yesterday whether I would consider piecing together the complicated sweater she knit from a French pattern, all the pieces being set out and ready to go, and even though that is my least favourite part of knitting I was tempted because I am dying to see this thing, and I had to say no anyway.  I just can't pile on any more than I have on my plate right now.

We all go through passages of our lives like that, don't we - and then we come out the other side and say Whew! not doing that again! and then we do, heh.

Sophia demonstrates her two-at-a-time sock technique

But I did get to work on my book today, and it went well, and I get to do more on it tonight, and right now, it feels great to be me.

Thanks for putting the socks away so nicely, Sophia.

Hope you guys get to do something that makes you happy today and I'll see you tomorrow!