So, while work is apparently the big hurdle during the week, it’s also likely to screw up the weekends too because by Friday night I’m way too tired to want to write. I’d managed to write more than 2,000 words per day for the first 5 days of this month, which put me out ahead of my schedule by day 6. At which point the long week and the bad work schedule and the very concept of Friday and therefore a decent night’s sleep all conspired to knock me off track. I wrote that night, but basically I only wrote the difference between whatever I had and the 12,000 words I needed to be at by the end of the day. And that meant that if I wanted to stay on track, I had to bang out 2,000 words on a Saturday where I had moving-in-related work to do all day, and a surprise birthday party to go to that night. A birthday party with an open bar and a bottle of Jack Daniels, a combination that’s practically my own version of kryptonite. And then I’d have to do it again on a Sunday where all I wanted to do was relax, turn my brain off, and watch football.

This coincided with a weird writing block that hits me sometimes. I’d started to figure out where the plot of this book is supposed to go, and I even knew how I wanted to get there. And yet, once I knew this stuff I had no interest in actually writing any of it. It’s like I’d figured out the puzzle, so why did I have to fill in the boxes? I don’t know why this happens, but it does. In fact, if it hadn’t happened I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have slacked off so much Friday night. This was a potentially huge trainwreck, and I wasn’t sure I knew how to avoid it.

Turns out the best way to avoid it is to put ass in seat and write anyway, which is what I did. I managed to write enough to hit my word count and still get a couple hundred words ahead again. I still know where the plot’s supposed to go next, but I’m trying not to think about it too much when I’m not at the computer. It helps if the words are fresh when I hit the keyboard. But I have to think about things a little so I keep my enthusiasm going. This is harder than I thought it would be, and I’m starting to remember just how twisted one has to be in order to create things like this. It’s still a lot of fun an exactly the thing I’d want to be doing if I could afford to ditch work and do it, but there are more daily challenges in the process than I remembered.

And so, this weekend turned out to not be the lost weekend I thought it might be as I walked home on Friday night. I’ll be out of town for part of next weekend, though, so already that one’s not looking so good. Add to that the fact that I’m pretty sure I only know the plot of this book until about Wednesday or Thursday, and next weekend could be an even bigger trainwreck than I thought this past one would be. At least it’s not boring.