Writing is a rollercoaster

8:00am: I understand why almost no one begins a book with a character waking up. They’d all start the same way: dread. There’s nothing compelling that makes me want to get out of bed this early.

9:15am: I’ve woken up enough, but the words in my head are still confused. I’ll use “trim” as the term for shortening pants as if it’s a tree. Either way, I’m going to write after work today. Perhaps I can write during my break too. I may be able to finish two chapters today if I keep this motivation up.

11:11am: When the customer comes to the checkout line, I ask if he found everything all right. He says, “Yes. I found everything except my father.” (For those curious, his father got lost in the deli section.) He is such an interesting character though. I don’t know who he is, but I may make him into a character in one of my stories. Or at least I’m going to use that response for something. It’s gold.

1:37pm: There’s not much else to do at work today. This is why no one writes about work days either. It’s too normal and dull. Readers need to escape, not come running back.

5:35pm: As I leave work, this older guy with a top hat stands by the exit. He has on a flowered shirt and some black pants. It looks as if he couldn’t decide what type of person he wants to be. He picks them all. I need a character like that. Perhaps my character will decide to do it all, even if it’s supposed to be impossible. Or even if everyone will stare at him for it.

6:01pm: After going through social media for a few minutes, I’m ready to write.

6:17pm: Oh look! This puppy video is so cute! Wait. Am I supposed to be doing something? Oh yeah… That writing thing…

6:30pm: I should be writing a new chapter, but I found a mistake while scrolling through another chapter. I’m editing the other chapter now.

6:32pm: This chapter is crap.

6:33pm: Wait. That one sentence is great. Maybe this chapter isn’t as bad as it seems.

6:47pm: Crap. What? How am I back on social media again? When did that— Oh, yeah, I was going to look up if they used that word during the 1800s.

6:48pm: So, that word wasn’t invented until 1920s. I got to work on this whole paragraph now.

7:55pm: After over an hour, I did it. This chapter is a masterpiece. Nothing can destroy it. I can hear it now: Robin LeeAnn, New York Times’ Best Selling author. I’ll be on talk shows every week.

8:00pm: I glanced back through it and found a grammar mistake. Crap.

8:01pm: I’ll write my bonus features for Target tomorrow. After I’m a best seller, Target will want my book for their book deals.

8:30pm: What are words?

8:31pm: Food break!

10:30pm: There’s so many words that I’ve started to lose count. I have two lists beside me to keep up with all the big and small things I need to fix. But I can look at a random sentence and I know where it is and what’s going on in that scene. That’s something, right?

12:05am: I haven’t finished as much as I wanted, but tomorr— But today is another day and I’ll catch up. This may take a while, but it’s getting there. It’ll be a great novel one day.