Spring is here and once again the oncoming nice weather will test my resolve to finish my latest novel. I find it especially difficult to keep focus when it’s a beautiful, sunny seventy-degree day outside. But as an artist I must ignore the temptation to enjoy the outside. When I am working on a first draft (as I’m doing now) I find that I can only concentrate on creating original material when I’m sitting at my desk. Something about that particular space and mindset unlocks my imagination greater than any other. In a way, I’m a slave to my own setting.
I have no problem revising second or third drafts from anywhere in the world; on plane, sitting on my deck, or being in a hotel room; but that first draft must always be written in this particular space. I guess it’s where my muse likes to hang out.
Despite a brief attack of writer’s block (my first ever), and several trips to the hospital (It’s all chronicled in my blog), the first book in my planned dystopian series is coming along. I reached 25,000 words yesterday which is just a few thousand less than I had planned in my timeline. The story is coming together well, the characters are shaping up nicely, and the futuristic setting is awesome. Now, if I only had a title for the work.
This is the first book I’ve ever started without having a title in mind. Perhaps, that’s because I have been thinking about the plot of this one for so long that the words and story came onto the page before I even had a solid idea of what to call it. I had a few titles in mind, but when I searched Amazon I found that there were already books that had those titles. As a writer, I highly recommend that you search Amazon so that your book title is unique in the world and therefore easier to find when googled. I’ll keep my thinking cap on until the right one hits me.
As I stare out my office window at the beautiful day I am going to be missing, I can’t help but wonder if all this sacrificing is worth it? Will I go to my deathbed regretting the time I spent writing rather than enjoying the wonders of nature? Will I grow old and angry that I didn’t take advantage of every nice day offered out to me? I don’t think so. For long after I’m gone my books will still be here and readers will be able to enjoy my stories. In a way, I’m sacrificing a few beautiful days to immortalize myself in the human condition.
So, I’ll lower the shades to keep sunlight from stinging my eyes and get down to the business of finishing this first draft. I may miss out on the day, but the joy I get typing away at my keyboard greatly offsets it.
