A Day in the Life

REMINDER!
The Coffin Hop starts this Monday! I've added my website to the list and started making a 'Coffin Hop' page, so please stop by the Website, join in on the Hop! With over 90 different authors taking part, that makes more than 90 chances to win stuff!
Let me repeat that:
MORE THAN 90 CHANCES TO WIN STUFF!!!
...and you might just find a new author you like, someone who's writing career you can follow. Who knows, you might find the next Stephen King just waiting for you to discover him!

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So I know I said I'd not be posting here about my fiction writing, but this isn't about accomplishments. This is about the process. And my lack thereof.

I have a very short story, less that 1,500 words, and it's a response to the flash assignmenr from my writing group this month. A Halloween story - surprise surprise. So I wrote one, and I like it a lot, but I need to edit it. Pare it down. Streamline it.

Just so I don't forget things like this I put a little Gadget in the sidebar on my desktop. It look like a little yellow Post-It pad, and I use it to leave myself little reminders up there. It's my To-Do list. The 1st thing in the to-do list is "Edit It's a Powerful Thing" It's been the top thing in the list for almost a week now. Here's a little breakdown of my usual day lately:

• 6:30 am 
• Wake up, get ready for work and try to be early enough to sit down before clocking in and get some editing done on the story.
• 8:05 am
• Hustle in from the parking lot at work, trying to be on the clock for 8:00. Yes, I know, I didn't make it.  But I tried.
• 10:30 am
• Get my route on the road for my 9:05 leave time. Yes, I know, I didn't make it. But I tried.
• 4:00 pm
• Finish my route and head to the library in town, having worked straight through so I can take my lunch and breaks at the same time so I have at least 50 minutes to write this blog, then get right to editing that story.
• 4:10 pm
• Check my email, answer one or two really fast. Finish with that quickly so I can bang out the blog and get to that story.
• 4:15 pm
• Stare at blank Blog page for a while, thinking furiously. 
• 4:20 pm 
• Check email again, diddle around with something for the Coffin Hop. 
• 4:23
• Realize what I'm doing, curse at myself a little and get back to the blog
• 4:25 pm
• Stare at blank Blog page for a while, thinking furiously.
• 4:30
• Stroll to the bathroom looking for a little inspiration
• 4:35 pm
• Stare at blank Blog page for a while, thinking furiously.
• 4:40 pm
• ...Zzz... zzz...  - What? What! Oh, how embarrassing! (wipe up the drool)
• 4:45 pm
• Inspiration hits! Start writing furiously
• 4:46 pm
• Remember that I don't actually know how to type, and begin to hit the "backspace" button furiously
• 4:47 pm
• Start writing again at a more sedate pace
• 4:55 pm
• Stop writing and pack it up, head back to the office and get off the clock.
• 10:00 pm
• My son's been put to bed (and I took a half-hour nap with him) and I've come home, taken a shower and sat down to work for the evening - 1st thing's 1st, finish the Blog!
• 11:00 pm (+/- 15 minutes)
• Publish the blog and look at the story, sitting next to me in its nice manila folder, highlighters resting atop it. But there was thought I had about the Coffin Hop this afternoon... if I just get that one thing done then I can spend the rest of the night with the story...
• 1:00 am
• Doze off for the 1st time, wake up 5 minutes later (usually from one of those 'falling' dreams where you almost kick yourself over backward in the chair. Don't you hate those?) and try to just finish that one thing for the Hop, and then I'll go to bed and work on the story in the morning when I get up at 5:00 am.
• 2:00 am
• Bleary, a little dozy, I'm either finished with what I was working on for the Hop, or I just quit. I reset the alarm for 6:00 am and start getting stuff ready for work in the morning
• 2:15 am
• One last check of email before I go to bed. Then the weather. Then the blogsite for traffic. Then FaceBook. Then the weather again, just in case it changed. Then the website to make certain I remembered to hide all the pages I was supposed to hide. Then the weather again.
  I swear I don't have OCD.
• 2:45 am-ish
• Move the laptop over to the bed and pull up Archer on Hulu. Or FX. Or somewhere . I'm a little unsure of this part, it's a little bleary. Re-set the alarm for 6:30 am so I'll have a little time in the morning to work on editing that story (remember that story? remember that?)
• 2:55 am-ish
• Realize I'm still dressed, stop Archer, get undressed, then start Archer from the beginning again so i don't miss anything. It's the same episode I watched the night before, and the night before that, and the night before that ... and still, I worry that I might miss something. 
• Sometime between 3:00 am and 3:30 am. -ish. I think.
• Fall asleep
• 6:30 am 
• Wake up, get ready for work and try to be early enough to sit down before clocking in and get some editing done on the story.

And we know how it runs from there, don't we?

Now, it's quarter of 9 at night, and I think I have the blog done. I'm going to publish this baby, take a shower and get my son to bed. I'll take a little snooze with him, about 15-20 minutes, and I'll get up and come back over here and edit the story that's sitting right next to me right now, in its nice manila folder with the highlighters resting atop it.

Sure I will.

Talk to you later!