Thoughts on a near-perfect “writing day” …

Courtesy of MORGUEFILE

The morning had dawned gray and cold, and—here and there—light traces of snow that had fallen in the night were visible. Far out to the east, across so many empty and barren fields, the sunrise had valiantly tried to make itself known, but the thick, dark cloud bank hanging so ominously low would have nothing of it.

A few snowflakes had blown about and had brushed lightly against my writing room window and then were gone. The backyard, that I had mowed for the final time last week, lay quiet and resigned to the fact that those wonderful warm days of summer and fall were but a memory now, and winter’s chill, with its snow blanket soon to arrive, was creeping in unopposed.

Alone in my house out in the country, I listen to the quiet all around…and the quiet is good.  From my computer, the relaxing and pleasant classical music station soothes the roughness of the world outside, transporting me into a good writing mood, and thoughts about the next chapter of Sandbar’s Secret begin to take shape. Periodically, the furnace “kicks in,” offering reassurance that our house is warm, and the newly arrived cold, a preamble to winter, can do nothing about it.

I finish writing the letters that have needed writing for many days, and they’re ready for a trip to the post office later. I send a couple of quick e-mails and clean out an overcrowded Inbox. I spend some time trying to figure out where I want to go with this week’s blog post—which “road” shall I travel today?—and settle on sharing my thoughts and impressions about this wonderfully inspiring day, glad that I don’t have to be outside other than to visit the post office, dump the recycling over at the Waste Management site, and maybe go to the store to see if the sale on Budweiser is still on!

It has been a busy week with appointments of one kind or another: Lab work for routine six-month doctor visit on Monday; a trip to the Apple Store on Tuesday morning for a battery replacement in the iPhone; pick up the grandsons from school on Wednesday and take them to basketball practice; finally, the trip in to the doctor’s office early this morning to go over the lab results and the routine check-up (which all turned out very well).

In short, I love this sort of day, especially when the past weeks have been endless strings of sun-drenched, blindingly bright days. On days such as this, the writing seems to be better, and the energy and drive to accomplish much is stronger than ever! And now that the rush of this week has subsided, I can stay inside now, on this cold and gray day, and focus on moving my writing along on this near-perfect “writing day.”….CortlandWriter

Courtesy of MORGUEFILE.

Finding that lost discipline…

Have desk, will write (Photo credit: Bright Meadow)

I’ve been kicking myself lately because I have not been very disciplined in accomplishing my daily writing goals. Yeah, we’ve had some company here at the cottage, and there’s been a distraction here, a distraction there that have offered me convenient “outs” for my writing routine. But what it has come down to is I have simply been un-disciplined during the open time when I could be writing.

 

Our current guests were here for a couple of days at the beginning of the week, and I made a mental note that as soon as they were gone, I’d get back to the necessary “grindstone” and get that novel–The Bet–revised, edited, and ready for publication by the end of August. In fact, I even went as far as to declare that nothing else would take priority over my writing today–nothing! No trips to the laundromat, grocery store, pontoon cruises, Facebook, e-mail, etc. I would dedicate myself to spending time only on my Scrivener project, my novel.

 

And I must say, writing this after a full day’s worth of diligent writing, it was a wonderful–disciplined–day where I accomplished more than I anticipated. And though I probably won’t be able to emulate today’s output every day, I know that it can be done. All in all, I’m confident that my goal to have novel number two published by the end of August will probably be moved up a few weeks earlier. Now that’s a wonderful feeling!

 

I love writing here at the cottage by the lake, especially when I’m the only one here. Much can be accomplished–when there’s the motivation and the discipline. I haven’t thought much about that this summer, but today’s re-focusing on my writing was a good thing. And, of course, it didn’t hurt to have what I call a perfect writing morning be hanging around for most of the early part of the day.

 

Perfect writing morning? The summer rain and thunderstorms have been lurking about for the past few days and nights, and this morning’s dreary atmosphere was absolutely perfect to be shut up inside the cottage, be sitting at the old table, and typing away on the MacBook, writing and revising my novel. If it were possible to capture the whole atmosphere that was here most of the day, I would never have a problem being a disciplined writer….CortlandWriter

 

Macbook relaxation. (Photo credit: mlchetrit)