Any day which starts out by having to call the plumber be...

Any day which starts out by having to call the plumber before 8 in the morning can only improve as it goes on.

I've known my plumber for over 25 years - his dad was the first one to help me with the piping in this house. As we were talking after operations were over, he asked me a reasonable question about writing. Not, Where do you get your ideas from, but: "How do you keep getting ideas after all these years?"

And I told the truth as I know it: "I try to make sure I get enough sleep; I take a long walk every day; I try to keep in a rested frame of mind." Writing is a lot of work, and a lot of that work is totally invisible. I've griped before about non-writers not understanding that when I'm practicing Japanese or taking a walk or playing Tomb Raider, that feeds back into writing.

Rest is a part of writing. If the soil hasn't fallowed and regained its nutrients, all the seeds in the world aren't going to produce a healthy crop. It's less easy now that I'm teaching and taking on more writing projects simply to stay afloat, but that truth remains.