Feeling (Kinda) Groovy

I can be superstitious sometimes. Not with black cats, or walking under ladders (that just seems like a safety issue, anyway), but when it's Friday the 13th, I almost expect to have a bad day. Or maybe I'm just not surprised if I do. Today, however, was actually pretty good. I met my sister-in-law and her husband for lunch at a local hamburger institution that they'd never been to before, and it's always fun to introduce people to a place you love and have them enjoy it as well (and good food doesn't hurt, either). I knew it was supposed to rain today, so when I emerged from lunch and it had begun, I was prepared with my umbrella. When it really started to pour, I was already at home. There was lots of wildlife activity in the yard today (always seems to happen when it rains), and both the kitties and I were getting much enjoyment watching the scramble at the feeders through the window. I wrote a page before I left for lunch, and despaired that I wouldn't be able to finish the chapter by this afternoon, which wouldn't leave much for my critique group to read on Monday. Until now, I'd been giving them two chapters at a time, so having less than one full chapter was leaving me feeling under-accomplished. Until...

I got back from lunch, plopped myself down in front of the computer (having to move a very heavy and attention-needing cat off to the side of the desk), and started to type. Still without an outline, I was in slightly different territory from my previous draft (and not really able to use much at this point in the story from that previous draft), so in a way I was writing fresh. But not completely, and therein was the problem. Because I've been working on this novel on and off for a few years now, I'd write something that made me question whether it maintained proper continuity from something else, and then I'd try to remember if I was comparing it to something that happened earlier in the story, or simply in a previous draft. I was enjoying the actual writing! Then, the next thing I knew, I'd added in a section I hadn't planned on writing at all, and instead of dragging myself to the end of the chapter to get it done, I wrote two more pages than I'd been hoping for, and it didn't feel like I'd quickly wrapped up the chapter just to finish. Today's productivity--all new writing (which, I know, is part of the revision process), for a total of 5 pages.

And the best part is, it didn't suck! (Which for me, when I'm hurrying to try to meet a deadline--self-imposed or otherwise--is a big deal.) If I could get that total every day (or at least average that for the week), I'd be a happy camper right now, and hopefully put me at my goal of being done with this draft by mid-spring.

Not bad for a rainy Friday the 13th!