Mental Meanderings

Scenes, scenes and more scenes

Another 20 minutes this morning and once again interupted by two children who think the Mummy getting up must mean it's morning. I might have to set my 20 minutes an hour earlier. I don't know if I want to risk them both thinking 5:30AM is a delightful time in the morning.

Anyway this morning's writing was difficult even beyond the fact that it was disturbed by the presence of two small children. Perhaps it's because I was already annoyed that they had woken up with me or perhaps it would have been difficult even without their presence. I began writing one of the early scenes, where Emma has her sister's family over for dinner. But the whole 20 minutes worth of writing felt stilted and I just don't like it.

I'm not doing anything with it at the moment as my priority for the time being is to get the various required scenes down on paper as a first draft. I can then cut those scenes and rework those scenes. Having a first draft completed will be a monument acheivement for me because usually I give up far too soon.

One or two chapters, a wandering draft that was going no where, drafting for two or three other books. I have so far never gotten a first draft completed. So my goal is to get all the words on paper in a first draft no matter how terrible I think it sounds and I assure you at the moment it seems pretty terrible. Hopefully by the time the draft is finished I'll be fresh enough to review the first few chapters objectively and perhaps it won't be so bad after all.

This morning I didn't manage to complete the scene before my 20 minutes were up. It's a long scene since it is going to convey a lot of the key factors in Emma's personality and give a broad view of her life with focus on a few key points, like her kids and her failed marriage and the fact that her sister is urging her to begin dating again. So tomorrow's 20 mins will go into more of that scene.

I'm itching to write more now but it's impracticale and I really have to focus on being a mother during the day. I might be wanting to spend the day writing but I have to separate my writing self from my parent/homemaker self. I have to treat my writing like a career which has a scheduled time.

In fact I have found I have to work at least a light schedule for everything in my life or nothing productive get done. I know I have to get Kaylie ready at 8AM every morning so she gets to school on time. Lunch at noon and prior to then Josh should have had a nap and a play, a load or two of washing should be cycling and various other chores around the house get done.

This loose schedule with a few strict conditions has so far helped me keep on track and on top of everything. It also stops me feeling like I'm in chaos. I know what is expected of me. I know that the alarm is going to go off at 6:30AM and I'll get up and write for 20 mins. I know that I'll have time in the morning to get the three of us dressed and organised, ready for the day, school lunches made, breakfasts eaten. I know that in the evening when Josh is starting to get restless I've got time to take it easy, put a quick dinner together for all of us and then the evening after putting Kaylie to bed involves quiet time with the TV, a good book, etc.

For me it works really well. But alas, I'm rambling. This is my entry today. I was really only going to cover the information about how the book is progressing but I'm never one to keep my entries short.