I remember a few years back when I was regularly lamenting the weeks that would go by without any real writing (other than blogging). I remember when I got hired to co-write that novel (which fizzled, as many large projects do, although it was my partner/patron doing the fizzling), that I made it a decided mission that I needed to have at least a few writing sessions a week, and that I should start setting benchmarks for the progress made at those sessions.
It’s strange now to remember that it wasn’t long ago at all that these trips to the library and all these cafes weren’t a part of my regular routine. They are now, to the extent that I feel genuinely restless and bothered when I’m not getting enough of them. Hell, after a good productive Liberty Wednesday like this week’s – when I spent an hour interviewing a friend for a one-woman show she’s hiring me to write, then followed that with two writing sessions that produced over 1,200 words for a short story – I get restless and bothered by the fact that I have to go to a job the next day.
Last night it was around 10 when I got home and settled from rehearsal. And at 11, instead of going to bed like I ought to, I was editing a short story – now that I’ve achieved the first draft of the play, the next priority I had set for myself was a new round of lit mag submissions for a half-dozen stories. I have successfully re-configured my computer setup and removed the desktop tower from the equation entirely, thanks in large part to this little gadget that is so stupidly discounted that it shouldn’t work at all. And yet it does.
I think I underestimated how much having my work split between two different machines discouraged me from writing at my home desk. Now it’s a snap to work there, and then pop out three cords (power, monitor, USB hub) and slip the laptop into my bag for an outing.
I have wanted to write my whole adult life, and I have written, by normal-people-who-are-not-Stephen-King standards, an insane amount. But after all that, I seem only to want to write more…
So I’m insane. Good.