It's a Sin, I Tell You

For those who don't know the one sin I believe in is the exploitation of innocence. It covers a lot, since people don't expect to be robbed, for example.

Today I slaughtered an otherwise innocent day. Following a bizarre nightmare when I was engaged with ridding my home of pests (which had grown from mice and rats to what I regarded as dragons but actually resembled lizards) I was unable to get back to sleep. No big deal: when you have no scheduled there's little to disrupt. Still, I got up around three, drank a pot of coffee, did some writing and e-mailing and had breakfast around ten.

Then it was three in the afternoon and I was waking up all over again. Had accomplished nothing I'd intended for the day, all those great plans and hopeful, useful things I'd do were all undone, and that always puts me in a bad mood. I disappoint myself a lot, but seemingly never tire of doing it. It has, however, one of the few things I do very well.

So I wasted a day. It's not like I'm counting the few remaining, but it's not like they're infinite in number, either.


It is possible to spend hours working on a page. I did that today and, while pleased with the results, I'm not too happy with the pace of this re-write! I was reading something I think I'll consider. Instead of rewriting in linear fashion, from front to back, when I finish the chapter I'm working on now I'll go and rewrite the big scenes.

Then, after doing them justice , I'll work the stuff surrounding them. I've never done this, not in any of my re-writes, but it sounds like an effective way to write. Create a good nugget, then let it expand and grow into a good section. When the sections all get stitched together in theory I'll have a better book.