Know when to say when

Yesterday I had the day off from my day job. Actually, I took it as a "vacation" day. Most people relax and have fun on a vacation day -- writers are definitely not most people. My idea of a day off is to sit at my laptop and write until I drop. My idea of fun is also a little different. Significant writing progress = my idea of a good time. Yep, I'm sick that way.

Derek left for the office at 7:30 yesterday morning. I was at my laptop by then. I worked at the dining room table (my secondary office) since Andy the Greyhound would try to follow me upstairs to my primary office. (As I've said before, greyhounds don't do stairs very well, or in Andy's case, not at all). So yesterday I wrote surrounded by dog beds. I wrote from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm, stopping only to move laundry from one machine to the other, eat a brief lunch and dinner, and of course, let the dogs out to potty.

At 6:30, I stopped for a quick dinner, and then sat back down at my laptop and tried to pick up where I'd left off. The pickup didn't happen. I just sat there and stared at the screen. I had lost my momentum. Dang it. You know, writers could get a heck of a lot more done if we didn't have to stop for food. Food is necessary, but danged if it ain't anti-productive. A little voice in the back of my head timidly suggested that just maybe, it might possibly be time to stop for the night.

I told the little voice to shut up, determined to keep going and finish that chapter. To kind of jumpstart myself, I went back and read over what I'd done. It was then that I had to agree with the little voice. If what you thought was aceptable and/or pretty danged good suddenly turns to sucky swill, there's a teeny, tiny possibility that it's time to stop. Growling at your laptop also qualifies.

I decided that after nearly ten hours of writing, that I deserved to cut myself some slack. Andy and Gracie had kind of been clueing me in to this throughout the afternoon. It ain't easy to type with a greyhound head resting on your forearm. Those heads get heavy after a minute or two. Then I made the mistake of looking down at those enormous brown eyes (more like orbs, actually). Safety tip: Mere mortals are helpless against the power of the orbs. Resistance is futile. So petting, snuggling and play immediately followed.

Within half an hour of stepping away from the computer, and actually sitting and relaxing, I experienced what I call "brain gush." Chunks of scenes from at least three chapters that I haven't written yet came to me in about half an hour. When I typed the notes up later, it came to four more pages. Woohoo! Sometimes it pays off big time to know when to say when.

Tomorrow's blog will be on how to go about researching and finding an agent (I've had a lot of requests for that), as well as how to deal professionally with agents and editors. Then on Saturday, it'll be the Saturday Fun Pic, as usual.

Lisa