Lying on the floor counts as writing
Remember when I said I’ve been working twelve to fourteen hours a day on this new novel of mine? Well, you should know what that really means. It means that I write for a few hours, get frustrated, go sit on the couch and pet the dog, come back in here and go over the crap I’ve just written, edit it, write some new pages for a while, get frustrated, go put in some laundry–
You get the picture.
Last night, in the midst of a scene that was just not working no matter how many hours I’d already spent trying to make it right, I resorted to my fallback position of lying on the floor of my office with my legs up on my chair, arm over my eyes to keep out the light, and I tried to see the whole scene like a movie in front of me–only a much better movie than I was writing at that particular moment, since my actors were saying all the wrong lines.
And somehow that actually worked. Once I broke away from the computer screen and got down on the floor, it’s like the Etch-a-Sketch reset. I lay there like that for maybe twenty minutes, watching the better movie playing in my head, and by the time I sat up again, I had it. It was nothing like what I’d just written, so all those previous words had to be moved to my extra file (I always save my words, no matter how bad they seem at the time, because you never know when you might need that particular turn of phrase after all). And since I cut all those words, it means I couldn’t include them in my daily word count, which is particularly hard. Some days writing feels like stacking wood, and all you have to show for it is the pile of logs. So when you don’t get credit for all those logs after all . . . harsh.
Some books have been a breeze to write. This one, not. This one has required more research and more thought than any of them. But despite that, I really love it. I love my main characters and I’m anxious to see them finally get together. Which is why last night’s scene was so hard to write, since it’s yet another detour along that path.
But all is well now. Lying on the floor works.
These are the trade secrets you never get to hear. You think it’s all glamour and book tours and sitting around in your sweatpants and T-shirt and no bra (right, Barry and Patrick?) making up stories all day. Well, sure, it’s those things, too. Otherwise why would we do it?
Technorati Tags: Writing, Publishing, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Novels
December 13th, 2006 at 5:44 am
I don’t know about Barry when he writes, but I’ve never thought not wearing a bra would help me write better.
And I hate sweatpants. And that stupid velvet pantsuit thing that women are wearing these days. Or whatever it is… Ugh.
December 13th, 2006 at 7:37 am
Patrick, I totally agree with you about the velvet pantsuits, but I could not live without my sweatpants. They are the basis of my entire winter wardrobe.
December 13th, 2006 at 8:10 am
I lie on the floor a lot, too. My fiancee likes to joke that I’m in the only profession where it can look like I’m napping on the couch with my arm over my face but I’m actually working. And showers. Showers are great for ideas…
December 13th, 2006 at 8:30 am
Totally agree about showers. They’re the writer’s version of Archimedes in the bathtub–Eureka!
December 13th, 2006 at 12:08 pm
i may not be able to write, but i know it’s VELOUR for goodness sakes, not velvet. and yes, it’s the wearing should be criminalized, except for my wearing of perhaps the first velour garment ever unleashed on christendom. that being my beloved blue robe originally gifted to my husband by me several decades ago and promptly regifted as not in keeping with his pro-nudist stance. oh how i love my beautiful blue velour robe and mourn the day that it will simply vaporize in the rinse cycle.
December 13th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
TMI your husband.
December 13th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
sorry, won’t happen again.
December 13th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
Hey, if you tried the Legs Up Against Wall yoga pose while on the floor, you’d get a great lower back stretch in as well.
Just a suggestion.
December 13th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
Excellent idea, Heather. I’m all about multi-tasking.
December 13th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
It’s not a problem with the fabric itself. It’s the Velour sweat suit look.
I’m quite certain that a velour robe hung open framing a naked body would be quite appealing.
December 13th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Yeah, Patrick, but if I read Annette right, it’s her husband that’s the big nudie, not her.
December 13th, 2006 at 5:56 pm
Patrick, seeing as you’re such a huge fan of my book, Headless Girl in Cape One, I know you’d appreciate the velour sweatsuit joke in chapter four.
December 13th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
I am a huge fan! It just seems to be sold out at all the stores I’ve been to. I’ll find it before Christmas…
December 13th, 2006 at 10:16 pm
okay patrick, i don’t mean to go pamela or paris on ya–but the velour robe and fishnet stockings, those were PRIVATE home videos. exactly how’d you get a hold of them?