New hours start tomorrow

and I'm really oddly nervous about it. I have a designated hour for writing that I have made appear in my schedule, in the morning by dint of shoving other things aside (namely sleep and time for lunch). I will have to see how much I can stand to cut my lunch, but I'm going to be experiencing somewhat of an income drop (unless, of course, I quickly sell the book under contract, but that's a whole different kettle of fish, namely having to do with how much I dislike having a contract looming over my head like a sword of Damocles).

Anyway: the plan

The first week, I can spend up to a half hour a day of that designated hour cleaning my office, on general clearing-the-decks principles. I don't think it'll take much more than that to get it into a shape where my surroundings are no longer distracting.

No e-mail during the writing hour, and no LiveJournal. After my hour is complete, I can send kijjohnson what I've done that day by e-mail so she can give e-mail me back raw encouragement. Which I will need. A lot.

Re: goal setting: thought of this and went back to look it up. I think I will go through this worksheet this week, too. This re-arrangement of my working schedule to give myself time to write feels like a big deal, because it's the first thing I've done in a long time that says "I have faith in my writing life." Mostly, what I've been thinking for the past four years, all this time that I've been blocked since finishing Swans was that I didn't have faith in it. It's been an interesting process to try to turn that not-so-helpful thinking around. The first step, I think, was getting this LiveJournal. I started it hoping that it would help me kick-start the creative process. I was worried that it would become too much of a time sink instead. Well, it has been a time sink (a very fun one, I might add). But I think there's no doubt that I wouldn't have worked up and started developing this very viable novel idea without it.

Let's see what I do with it.

And it's so different to be writing a book with the LiveJournal audience there, in another way that hadn't occurred to me previously. Previously, when I slacked off writing my other books, only my writing group was there to say, "Well, where's the next part?" Now I have over a hundred people on my friends list, and several have expressed more than a mild hint of interest in this new book. The fact that I'm writing is more public, shall we say. (And a more public forum for failing insists the scaredy-cat in the back of my brain that's been responsible for my writers block the last four years).

Shut up, I tell the scaredy cat. I'm not going to listen. Not this time. Tomorrow I sit down at the computer. We'll see what will happen.

Cheers,
Peg

My laugh for the day

both as a parent and as a progressive. Thanks to aome for pointing out this post by msscribe. I live in a state where the Republicans who have just taken over the state government and are facing a huge budget deficit think that their time can best be spent trying to pass a bill rescinding basic civil rights for gays and lesbians (fortunately, enough of them seem to be coming to their senses that it looks as though it isn't going to get enough support this session). Faced with bone-headed stupidity like that, I really needed the laugh. Thanks.

Cheers,
Peg