For the last two years one of my hobbies has been going to Ebay everyday and browsing through the car ads and daydreaming about RV's and race cars. Suddenly I own a cool new car and an RV. On top of that I've started racing indoor karts which is more than fulfilling my car racing jones. So now what do I do?
Some day I am going to write a story that doesn't make me cry. I've said that before and I'm sure I will say it again. I'm working on this action story. I meant it to be a simple suspense story about two old friends/enemies stuck together in an isolated cabin. It's turned into an extension of my past self trying to exercise some demons, versus this guy I never liked but now understand why I didn't like him. It's all very complicated, but it's making a much better story.
Today I had to go buy clothes because everything I have is too big for me. I never thought I would have to do that. 40 pounds gone over the last six months. I hope to lose another 40 or so. So good.
I wrote a page of crap tonight, but it was good crap. There is so much that brain just wont tell me. Only when I write to these things reveal themselves to me. Lately much has been interfering with the creative process.
One of the things that my brain revealed to me through my writing is that I'm tired of being unorganzied. I know you expect me to say disorganized, but that's not what I'm talking about. To me disorganized implies a non-typical method of organization which is unsuccessful. Unorganized to me is the lack of an attempt at organization. This is what I have for most of what's going on in life.
So what do I do about it? I make lists. Anal retentive? Yes, but it helps me gain a measure of control over the chaos. Or at least the delusion that I have a measure of control. It helps me to slice things down to its smallest components. Instead of this monstrous blob I see it as a pile of manageable portions.
Also, I've come to admit that I need more sleep. That has become one of my goals. Not just sleeping half the day on Saturday. I would actually like to reclaim Saturday mornings as an active time. The only way I can do this is get more sleep during the week. I think. I don't know. I'm just making this up as I go along.
I started what may become a very good story last night. After writing about 400 words I got up to go to the bathroom. One thing after another grabbed my attention and 90 minutes later I sat down to resume the story. I wasn't able to get back in writing mode. I have to learn to stay focused.
I picked up a book at the library today on kart racing. I imagined that I knew everything that was in the book. After all, I have some racing experience. HA! I know nothing. This book, which was recommended by real race drivers, has taught me just how much I don't know. I was doing most everything wrong. The strange thing is that after my ego bruises healed it was comforting to know that I didn't know what I was doing. This means that I have enormous room for improvement.
I just did two days training on Project Management. I learned many useful things for work, but I also learned quite a bit about assessing other people's needs and goals. It will be useful for work, but it will be even more useful for my writing. One thing that bugs me about my characters is how similar they all are. I've gotten better recently, but I think I have new insights which will help widden the gap.
Busy busy busy. The RV showed up this week and that has taken most of my time. I'll be adding details to the RV section soon. Much work but much fun.