Get Up and Go, Got Up and Gone

Interesting item in the August issue of Writing Magazine. It’s from my old friend and regular WM columnist, Lorraine Mace. She was saying how difficult it is to keep to her schedule. There are days when she knows she should be working on this column, that Writer’s Bureau assessment or the next novel, and despite the best of intentions, she just doesn’t get round to it.

Tell me about it. I don’t have a schedule, but if I did, it would be very simple. Wake, eat, work, sleep, work a bit more, eat a bit more, sleep a bit more, work, eat, relax, sleep. So simple to spell out, so easy to stick to… well, apart from the “work” bit.

Every morning this week, I’ve dragged myself out of bed, switched on the evil machine and said to myself, “this is the day I get on with the WIP” (a sequel to The Handshaker). Now here we are, Friday afternoon, and how many words have I written? None, zip, zero, zilch.

It’s not writer’s block. I’m chock full of ideas. It’s a lack of energy to get them down on electronic paper, and it’s a far cry from the other week when I hammered out a 60,000-word first draft in just seven days. This week, I haven’t even managed to write an address on an envelope. My get up and go has got up and gone.

Why?

Haven’t a clue. I feel manky, but there’s nothing new about that. Even when I’m on top of my game, I’m never better than about 70%. Sales are poor, but what the hell, they’ve never been mega. In other words, there’s nothing special about this week, nothing that holds me back other than the oh-so familiar, “I can’t be bothered.”

I tell myself I’m looking for that special idea while I play a few games of Chain Reaction. I’m plotting the sure-fire winner while I muddle through a few online sudokus. All smoke. The special idea has always been done before, and I’ve been at it long enough to know that it’s not the set up but the telling that sells books, and if you’re looking for a sure-fire winner, you give up writing and start a mobile car-valeting business.

How long will it last? Not long I’ve decided it ends right now. I’m digging out the WIP and gonna give it some hammer… just as soon as I finished tinkering with the Sanford 3rd Age Club Mysteries website.