I think the call from a high school friend this morning was the motivation. I hadn't spoken to Jimmy in years, but he called and we chatted, mostly about days almost forty years ago (I can't believe it's been that long...). We talked about our pre and post-mission lives, hanging out in the summers, and what we're up to now.
The conversation then turned to writing and writers. He asked me how things were going. I was honest and told him that I have not done much in the past couple of years.
I decided I'd get some writing done today.
I have a YA novel I working on. I just completed the first draft. I spent last month reading through it and it left me a bit down. In short, it needs a lot of work. It's too short, too predictable, and too flat. These are serious problems for any story. Thankfully, it's still in the first draft stage. After reading through it, I thought about how I could fix those issues, specifically, the length. I had a thought come to mind about some of the middle chapters. I could expound one section and answer some of the questions a reader might have.
Today, while doing laundry and enjoying President's Day, I broke out the laptop and started writing. I might do more writing tonight after dinner...we'll see. And even though it was only a thousand or so words, it felt SO good to get something down--get anything down.
I've had many jobs in my life, dishwasher, groundskeeper, telemarketer, computer audio technician, stuntman...writing is one of the most bizarre things I've ever done. One second you are convinced what you are writing is brilliant, something everyone will want to read. A poorly written sentence later and everything you've written is pure crap. Still, days like this make it worth it. Thanks, Jimmy for the call...
And the push.
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