Art That Flows

No sooner is the fourth draft done than I embark on a new project: I'm holding an eight-week workshop called "Art That Flows: How to Get Your Creative Work Done."

Check out all the details here!

Number Four is Done

So I made my goal, but it wasn't pretty. I got a cold last Saturday, and since then the last thing I wanted to do was write. I slogged it out an hour here, an hour there, in between bowls of ice cream and episodes of Deadwood. I reached that point where you feel like you're the world's worst writer and you loathe the book that you're working on. So right now I don't feel happy or proud or excited. Just relieved that it's done. For now. I'm a little embarrassed that it's so anticlimactic. But I feel too lousy to care.

If this summer has taught me one thing, it's that the work goes on even when the circumstances aren't perfect. I don't remember many blissful moments on this draft (exceptions were my three-day cottage retreat, and a few days of work at the National Library, when I finished my daily quota by noon). I do remember feeling overwhelmed, cranky, impatient, confused, panicked, and tired.

And what do you know ... the draft still got done. I am very happy to be going to see Wicked tonight. I plan to wear my red dress and gold sandals to put me in a celebratory mood.

I'm going to keep up my resolution to write every day. My next project is a lifebook for Lia, a kind of picture storybook about her first year. I'm so excited to work on something different than my loathsome novel!

Home Stretch

After a few hours of writing today, I'm still on track to finish this draft by August 31. When I'm done, I will have rewritten one-third of the novel from scratch (well, all new words, some recycled plot) and revised everything else. What seemed like a huge task at the beginning of the summer has been broken down into little pieces that I could do every day without feeling overwhelmed. It still astonishes me how I can get through a major draft fifteen minutes at a time.

At my writing group the other night, someone was asking how you get through writing a novel when it's such a mammoth undertaking. I said that I work on one section at a time, and I give myself permission to fix stuff next time around. I'm not trying to get it perfect, just closer. Almost no words survive from my first draft; it was more about mapping the terrain of the story than writing final copy. It's been so much easier to write polished prose with all the scenes and plot points already laid down for me. A bit like paint-by-numbers. I've really enjoyed the revision process.

I plan to put in some hours this weekend, see if I can get ahead of schedule. Maybe I'll even finish early. Imagine!

My Hubby is a Canadian Ultimate Champ

Shawn's been in Calgary this week at the Canadian Ultimate Championships, and his masters team, GLUM, just won the finals 17-8! I'm so proud of him. He felt great all week, played a lot, and was really happy with his game. I only wish I'd been there to watch.

My mood has been up and down while Shawn's been away. Lia can be wonderful and aggravating at the same moment. Today we were out shopping and she hadn't peed in a few hours, so we went to the toilet at The Bay. She chattered and wriggled and hugged the garbage can and sang, "Come out, pee! Let's go, pee!" I was laughing and also fuming. Twenty minutes later we still had no production, and there was a line-up when we emerged from the stall.

The tale ended happily when we stopped in at Starbucks (our third washroom after The Bay) and the promise of chocolate milk finally had the desired effect. My outlook on life at the moment depends on how much urine lands in that porcelain bowl.

Oh, yes, there's also the novel. I'm a little behind schedule again (blame it on single parenting) and debating whether to stay up and finish three pages, or tackle it early tomorrow morning. I'm planning a few treats over the next two weeks to keep me motivated.

Ways in Which Creativity Is Like Going Potty

• Half the battle is getting your bum on the seat.
• You can't force it. Just relax and let go.
• Sometimes nothing comes for a while, and then just when you've given up, things start to flow.
• Rewards help. So do cheerleaders. But the biggest pay-off is your own personal satisfaction.
• When you get the urge, drop whatever you're doing and take care of it.
• Make it a regular practice, not a special event.
• Sometimes you need to hunker down and focus, and other times you work it in to the rest of your busy life.

*Feel free to add your own!*

Don't Eat Anything Off My Kitchen Floor

I haven't yet lost my marbles, although I've forgotten what the sky looks like. Lia seems to have turned a corner: successes are now outnumbering accidents, and we even have a few self-initiations in there. We might be ready to leave the house in a day or two, hooray!

And on the bright side, I've scrubbed every last sticky spot of grease off my range hood. Plus, dinner is in the Crock-Pot. I just bought a copy of The Best Make-Ahead Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, which has some great slow cooker dishes. The scientist in me loves the long narratives about how they test four different kinds of tomato paste, and compare soaked with unsoaked beans. The two recipes I've tried so far (Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew and Black Bean Soup) have been excellent (although I'm a dolt and didn't realize that two tablespoons of chipotle pepper in adobo sauce would make the Black Bean Soup veerrry hot!). Today's dish is Curried Chickpea Stew.

I wrote for an hour yesterday, and I'm headed back to the laptop right now.

No More Elmo, Please!

We are in the middle of Day 2 of potty training. I haven't yet gone stir-crazy, but a few more viewings of Elmo's Potty Time just might put me over the edge. The worst part is being confined to the 9x16 foot kitchen (the rest of our main level is carpeted).

We really enjoyed our cottage weekend, and I brought my laptop and set it up in a secluded corner so I could sneak away once a while and make some progress on the manuscript. I'm close to getting caught up on my schedule from last week. And I'm determined to write today during naptime, to remind myself that there's more to life than wet training pants and puddles on the floor.

Incentive

Halfway through my writing sabbatical. My, it's going fast. I feel like I've hardly gotten started, and it will soon be over.

This week was somewhat successful; I wasn't able to write four hours a day, so I'm a little behind schedule. But I did get a fair bit accomplished in the time I did write. I find if I have any appointment or lunch date during the day, combined with trying to get a little housework and cooking done, it really eats into my productive time. One important lesson I was reminded of this week: get out of the house to work! I went to the National Library for a couple of days and that helped.

We are off to a cottage with Shawn's parents for the weekend, and then I have a week off from writing. Lia's daycare is closed, so she and I are going to embark on our own special project: potty training! Wish us luck!

Oh, and I made the plans for my kick-ass draft-finishing reward. If I complete the rewrites by August 31 at 7:30 pm, I will be sitting in seat D17 at the National Arts Centre, ready to watch the musical Wicked! If I don't finish (and I'm going to be strict with myself about this) I will give the ticket away. So that's my incentive. Hopefully I will have a little time to catch up this week and get back on schedule come August 11.