Am I the only writer out there who is addicted to Spider
Solitaire? I can sit at my desk with my current mystery open in one screen, and
all too easily switch screens, and allow myself only one game. Then two. And so
it goes.
When I’m feeling generous to myself I call my obsession with
Spider Solitaire a kind of thinking, plotting, planning, letting my mind run on
idle while I think up the next brilliant twist in my new Santa Monica mystery. But I know different.
It’s seeking rest from my own mind in a funk of non-thought.
It’s not as if I feel the world is breathless with
anticipation for my next mystery.
I’ve already twitched back and forth from my Facebook Pages
to Twitter to email just to see what’s going on. Like there’s ever anything
going on with Twitter.
In an effort to limit my Spider Solitaire addiction, I
placed a five minute timer on my desk, the old fashioned kind where sand runs
through from one compartment to another.
Anything to delay the agony of composition. Perhaps you’re
familiar with that great yawning space on the page below your last good
sentence?
I’m working on a first draft of two mysteries; one set in
Santa Monica, one set in the tranquil village where I live. I’m working on two
at once because the theory was that when one got hard I could turn to the
other.
Guess what? They’re
both hard.
In the end it all comes down to self-discipline, rooting
myself in my chair, opening the file and reading over the last horrible bit of
stilted writing that lays there inert on the page.
I know that if I dig through it long enough, something
catches fire. I find myself correcting a comma. Then I rearrange a sentence,
and maybe the next paragraph isn’t that bad. Oh! Something twitched in my
brain. Ah, an idea. And sometimes off I go. If I can just drag my fingers back
from Spider Solitaire.
I’ve written four mysteries now. I can do this again. It’s
not hopeless.
The most recent: http://www.amazon.com/Payback-County-Sheriffs-Deputy-Stafford/dp/1481053051/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378047663&sr=8-1&keywords=mar+preston
5 comments:
Am I really and truly the only writer who wastes time?
Nope, you're not.
I'm on Klondike Solitaire. I think while we're playing, our subconscious is quietly working in the background. Today, after a long dry spell I suddenly had a happ breakthrough on my current effort. Heh heh. Back to Klondike!
I don't know spider solitaire, but I do sympathize with your funk of non-thought. I just finished my latest and have not yet begun my next. I'm not sure why, except, maybe I don't want to. That's so not like me. Instead of solitaire, I've been watching the bird fights at my feeder. Sad, really, sad. I just hope C.M. is right!
I don't know if this entry is about your addiction to spider solitaire, or your inattention to your writing.
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