A Writer's Life

So further down the page you have an update on the new job, in particular how it has really moved around my biological clock as well as my writing habits. In particular, how I was doing my writing in the morning and then just collapsing when I got home at night.

Well, I have to fess up, while it sounds good on paper, the new process wasn't really working, and I have returned to my nightowl ways.

The morning writing worked OK, particularly for short stuff (like this blog), but over a longer haul it was more difficult to get up and into a groove when I knew that in an hour (forty-five minutes, twenty minutes) I would have to rise from my task and head out.

But writing in the evening? All you're doing is putting off sleep.

And it shows in the writing. I've been working on (and been late on) a short story (more on that when it is accepted). And the text flow has been choppy, more centered on vignettes, than a smooth flow. And it has taken forever. So this week I have started the writing process at ten or so, gone to one, and then crashed. It has been more productive, since the wrap point is determined by me, not the clock.

In addition, in the evening I'm a little less active and bouncy (and therefore less easily distracted), which is important when you have access to the Internet.

The end result is that the short story first draft is done, and I am just a little frayed around the edges. But that feels . . . normal.

More later,