Random thoughts:
1. Look at the 1st Draft Progress meter to the right. Yep, that’s 73% done and a crazy 13,000 words written since I’ve been here.
2. I haven’t left the house in two days which is partly due to the above, partly due to the rain, and partly due to being too lazy to change out of my sweatpants and put on my shoes.
3. I finished reading a fantastic crime novel by Joe Stein called That Twisted Thing Called Truth. Yes, I know Joe and yes, he is published by my publisher, but I wouldn’t rave about this if I didn’t mean it. I wouldn’t mention it at all. So…go buy it. It’s a real page-turner, and his descriptions of car chases and shoot outs are wild! (I’ll be writing more about him and his book later. I might even get him to answer some questions about how he could possibly know the stuff he’s written about. Hmmm.)
4. I wrote about the difficulty I was having coming up with a title for novel 3 here. Well, I think I’ve come up with one, at least one I can use as a working title. I had been playing around with two specific words which felt like they needed to be a part of it and this morning, who knows how or why, the way to put them together in a catchy, intriguing way, popped into my head. I wasn’t even in the shower — which is how I tell my students to do it. I won’t tell you what it is now, just in case…..
5. I was part of a fascinating reading here the other night. The Irish Writing Centre, where I read in September and talked about here, has sent around three memoirists to read at various venues around Ireland. It really was very nice of them to include me in the reading, considering I don’t write memoirs and I’m not Irish. But it gave me a chance to read an excerpt from A Clash of Innocents that I don’t normally read, and to think about an aspect of my writing which I don’t normally think about, i.e. my use of memory and my slightly wacky impulse to want to turn reality into fiction.
6. People have asked why I can get so much writing done when I’m here, and I think I’ve realised why it is. Obviously, it’s the quiet and the fact that by being here in the first place I’ve made a commitment to put my normal life aside. But I do blog (obviously). I do answer emails and check out Facebook. So what’s the difference? One, I don’t make plans to see people or get my hair cut or run errands or grab a drink (I mean tea) with friends in the afternoon. Even if those things don’t take up much time, knowing I have to do them means I have to put on real clothes, break my momentum, plan my day etc. When I’m here, there are lots of things I do, but nothing I have to do, and that’s a big difference. And two, I don’t have to think about my meals. I don’t have to plan them, organise them, order (I mean cook) them. All I do is notice the time, amble out to the kitchen and eat. Another big difference. So it’s not so much about real time. It’s about mental time.
And speaking of mental time, I’ve run out of it. I need a nap and a shower and then an amble over to dinner. Enjoy your weekend.
Enjoy, enjoy…
Ooh, it all sounds wonderful, as I know it is. 13000 words, whoo-hoo, keep at it! (In your pyjamas… of course!)
Oh it sounds fabulous.
I have put my life (writing) on hold for the last month and I feel really itching to get back to it… I shall have to wait until I’m back in Bangkok.
Keep enjoying your retreat. Jxx