Write…or DIIIIIIIIIE

Today’s Kristen Lamb post was about not wasting our time with weak writing, though for some of use the need to get words on the page supersedes everything else. Come editing time, that is another matter!

The Clock is Ticking—5 Tips for Tighter, Cleaner Writing.

In the quest to get those words out of my head and on to the page, I checked out Darynda’s Write or Die, which I mentioned in the last blog.  Looked pretty interesting, why not try it? I made sure everything was ready, dogs settled, coffee at my hand, and I sat down to write, with the level set to gentle.  Pretty cool, when I stopped to search for a word, the screen went to pink, then darker pink.  So I threw myself into getting words on the screen, playing out a conversation between Gabe and Clair the first time they talk about why she’s pretending to be her friend.

The phone rings.  I could say I was worried the caller might have a serious issue but the sad fact is I’m still Pavlovian about answering the phone. I’m working on that. She asked if I had a minute, I told her I was writing and she said “this will only take a second.” Now there’s my second mistake, as my brilliant organized friend told me. I should have said I’d call her back, and hung up. Lesson learned.

I was sure I could multi task and work on two conversations at once.  Until my coffee ran out, I went to get more, and didn’t hit keys often enough to make the W or D program happy.  The screen went pink, fuschia, red, then started a beeping alarm, even though I was pounding at keys.  Apparently it had locked up completely and my only recourse…the ONLY way I could SHUT UP that alarm…was to close the program.  Since it had locked up, all my words were gone gone gone.  Nope, not automatically saved.  Gone

Well, it was monumentally bad writing anyway. But I had retaught myself a valuable lesson. Given any sort of time pressure I can write no matter what.  So that evening I set a timer to fifteen minutes, and rewrote that conversation between Gabe and Clair.  Better. Stronger. Maybe not Six Million Dollars worth but certainly 750 words worth. Last night instead of conversation I started a love scene, and worked on it some more this morning. Now that’s a great way to start the day.

That caller? She’s kept right on talking. Now THAT’s focus.

I have several recipes to share, would you rather see the butter cookies or the spicy eggplant pizza? It’s ALL good