Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Not Writing and Routines...

I suppose I should begin this post by explaining that I have been asleep since February; seriously. While sleeping/snoozing I became hooked to a programme called: Un Diner Presque Parfait. I think it's based on some British thing where 5 people cook for each other every day of the week and are judged on their cooking hospitality and decor (is it really that important?). I realised that my brain was melting when I found myself weeping along with the Senegalese man who won the 1000€ one week and said he was going to send the money to his village back home. I then changed to a more serious channel ARTE (the French German collaboration) and snoozed through loads documentaries about all sorts of stuff, such as artificially inseminating elephants to how time is the architect of the planet.

I think I'm more awake this week. I can't be a 100% sure as I'm on holiday, but the goal is to get all those boring things done that I have been putting off since ... eh like October and to write. So I got my verruca done this morning by some sadistic bastard who called me into his office, looked at my referral letter, looked at my toe, went: YEP that's a verruca. He then proceeded to open this huge canister where dry ice poured out, poured a tiny bit of smoking liquid into a little metal bowl, muttered something about: 'this is going to hurt' and then proceeded to cause me extreme PAIN! So, the idea now is to write ...

The thing is, and no offence to you guys, but I was hoping that I would open up the folder that contains the first draft of my book and the other folder that contains bits of the slowest ever edit on earth and skip the blogging bit.

But it's the routines. Don't laugh, you all have them and I'm in desperate need of some new ones. I wrote to a friend last week ranting on and on about this whole visualisation process before the actual act of fingers tapping on keyboard. In my mind, it's dark, I have my pathetic tiny ashtray to the left, packet of cigs behind the laptop. Also on the left may be print outs that I'm currently working on. On the right is my notebook, a cup of tea/glass of wine. I may have one song playing in the background to start with, but by time the CD is over I won't put another one on because I'll be there... you know that place.

So I'm now going to start tearing that image apart. By the time it's dark I'm usually ready for a nap. I've stopped smoking(permanently I hope), I've stopped drinking (temporarily I hasten to add) and I'm down to one cup of tea a day (and decaf tea is pants let me tell you). I can still play the CD, but... I think that somewhere along the line, blogging actually became part of the writing routine too and I was trying to skip that bit to actually have some time to write, but the end result was nada.

Anyway, I'm now going to request that you all send me some new writing routines that will work for a non-smoking, non-drinking, caffeine deprived, slightly pooped writer. OK, I know that's a lot to ask for someone who's vanished off the face of the earth for two months, but please... It was for a very good reason honest. You can find the reason why tucked in between the flowers and Tibo on the right hand side bar.

14 comments:

Rick said...

No booze, no smokes, no coffee? Jesus, pack it in! Or cultivate a drug habit? ;-)
Actually, like anything, if you sit there long enough, I suspect it will begin to happen. Kinda boring in the meantime, though, innit?

Marie said...

I'm glad you're OK. I was wondering where you were. As for writing routines, I'm afraid all I can say is just write. Even if it's just a few words a day.

Unknown said...

You're having a Holy cow? And I thought you were just pregnant.

Many congratulations, V. The deprivation ends eventually but, umm, make the most of the sleep while you can.

soubriquet said...

Liquid nitrogen, I suspect, not dry ice.
All I know about veruccas is that they have a funny name, and kids with them were not allowed to go swimming. Our P.E. teacher used to tell us all to sit on the benches at the side of the pool and then inspected every foot for veruccas. i thought thet were scary toothed things that lurked around the tiled floors, and leapt into unsuspecting feet, chomping into them and burrowing into your flesh, migrating north, and eventually eating your brain.
AAARGH! Splash it with liquid nitrogen! Burn it out! Amputate my foot!

Debi said...

That may be holy but it sure as hell ain't a cow! Wow and double wow and wow again!!! xxx

Jon M said...

Congratupregnancy! And you're wondering about writing routines! So pleased for you! Babies are ace! :)

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

I am *SO* glad to see you back.

Viaggiatore and I were on sabbatical too, but we have all returned.. and it's good.

Can't wait to see what you write, now that you are awake.

;o)

Scarlett & V.

Unknown said...

Hi Kyklops, I'm developing quite a good nose for alcohol and can frequently be caught with my honk in other people's glasses!
Marie - do questions count?
Minx- Hi just done a tour of duty visiting sleep deprived friends! Aaah.
Hi Soubriquet - This verruca is getting scarier by the minute, I hope it doesn't eat my brain!
Debi - No it's definitely not a cow, and it's definitely very WOW!
Hello Jon - Well the ones I met last week were pretty cute. And I'm glad to see that I won't need gym membership for a while, what with all that weight lifting.
Hi Scarlett - Well the next thing I need to write is a letter to my letting agency telling them I want to move out... AGAIN...Damn.

Unknown said...

Oh, and if you turn into one of those 'mommy' bloggers I may have to shoot you.

apprentice said...

Fantastic news, congrats!!
I hope you're through all the sickey stuff and blooming in Paris in the Spring.

Just get your skates re the book on cos you'll never get peace for another decade

Unknown said...

Minx - 'Mommy' is a merkan word and I don't understand it ;)
Apprentice - Yeah I'm past all the sicky stuff thank you and into all the eating stuff now... mmm what can I eat next?

Wanderlust Scarlett said...

Just popping in to check on you...

How are things going?

And an aside... Seamus has retired, he is no longer blogging.

Hope you are well, please update.


Scarlett & Viaggiatore

Unknown said...

Are you gonna tell 'em or what????

Anonymous said...

Please do. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's dropped in on you occasionally, this month and last, to see if there's any news!

I sincerely hope all has gone well for you.

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