Since it’s now the Saturday after Labor Day, I realize that my vacation is quickly coming to a close.Since I’ve been trying to get some of my story ideas off of sticky notes and into some sense of developed outline or fleshed out prose, I took off the full week of Labor Day so I could concentrate on these tasks.
Well, it has been a good week, and more than two chapters of one story have escaped into my computer. While that’s not a lot for some writers, it’s definitely been an accomplishment for me. Unfortunately, with only 4,100 words written in one week, I doubt I’ll make the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words in one month.
Yes, I can blame it on my internal editor, that insidious dark lord dwelling deep in my subconscious that reaches out and decimates any incomplete or inane thought before it reaches my hands resting on my keyboard, or I could blame it on the presence of the other Starbucks day patrons—after a few days of seeing the same people, it begins to be quite a community. A photographer who witnessed me get pizza delivered to my table (the delivery guy recognized me from a few other prior deliveries) and then P.F. Chang’s take-out from next door the day after has now taken to asking me what I plan on eating for lunch (I wonder now if he asks because he’s a “starving artist”). Since I don’t want to pack up and leave for lunch, it does limit my choices a bit, but the Kierland Commons shopping center in Phoenix, AZ, does provide a number of options. Of course, Starbucks does have some nice salads and bakery goods, but I’m a man and need a hearty meal!
Of course, the real reason for not being as productive as I’d hoped is that I really needed a vacation from work, and while writing a novel with dozens of people around me is different than developing software in a cubicle with only myself for company, the fact is I’m still sitting in front of a computer for hours on end. I thought about asking for another week off, but my manager wouldn’t get the electronic request until Monday, so I’d still have to go in for at least that day. Maybe I’ll plan another week or partial week later in the month; I heard there’s a great writer’s conference in Dallas in a couple weeks, and it’s been a while since I’ve been there.
Since I wanted to maximize my writing time, I decided to stay in Arizona this weekend, and I’m already missing my friends I usually do stuff with on Friday nights through Sunday nights. On the other hand, a good number left on a weekend cruise and most others have various things going on, so I might have been solo most of the weekend anyway.
I think what I need right now is a reading break!
