Today was just one of those days. It started out well: I felt rested and pretty peppy. But somehow, I didn’t accomplish as much as I planned to. Maybe it’s the Monday factor. Just as it sometimes takes time to get my day going, it also sometimes takes time to get my week going. Frankly, Monday’s not my favorite day.
First, I worked on my YA novel revision, but instead of moving forward, I ended up going back over a chapter I’d already reworked and tightening it up. While this improved what I’d already rewritten, it didn’t give me as much forward motion as I’d hoped for. Next, Alex called and read me part of his history senior thesis — this was fun. I was happy to put on my editing hat and tell him what a great job he’s doing.
Then, I inputted reviews I’d written for two new books that friends have just published. I fine-tuned the reviews, but for some mysterious reason which I have yet to decipher, Amazon wouldn’t let me post them. This triggered the very low threshold that I have for technology snafus and led to some major frustration. I finally posted one review on Smashwords, which made me feel better. Minor progress.
Later, I started noodling around ideas for this post. I checked a few online articles for inspiration and read a few newspaper clips, but nothing grabbed me. My brain zeroed in on the musical Les Miz, and I checked out the Wikipedia entry, which led me to Josh Groban who recorded “”I Dreamed A Dream” — nothing to write home about.
All in all, it has not been a super-satisfying stint on the writing front. I feel like a day tripper who’s visited my own life but didn’t get much out of it. Not a great feeling! But here’s the thing: this comes with the territory. Some writing days are diamonds, and some are stone. And, as my friend and mentor Rob Gilbert says, “You can mess up, but don’t give up.” So I am looking forward to being super productive tomorrow. Does this ever happen to you? How do you handle it? Write on!