If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I need to get my shit together. How about you?
Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I had space in the office for 5 minutes, and now I’m back to the kitchen.
I’m here surrounded by markers and Bunchems (here’s Isla’s interpretation of me), and my business cards.
There’s also tape, screen cleaner, and a scary plastic tiger peering at me from the edge of the table.
This week, I wrote elsewhere, about not writing. Those pieces will appear here next week, possibly updated with more writing.
If we were having coffee, you’d hear that I’m listening to relaxing jazz over here.
Writing with music on makes me type faster. My words-per-minute goes from 11 to 12.
Please don’t recommend voice-activated software. I’ve used it, had some success with it, but have too much background noise to use it properly, so we type. Slowly.
My writing time this week happened at two key times:
1. When everyone slept.
b. When I was angry.
I’ve learned a few things from that:
1. When I’m the only one in the house not sleeping, I should get my ass up and write.
b. No, actually that’s all I got, but it’s enough.
Could it be I’ve found something that works? I’ve found my way back to the writing zone?
If we were having coffee, which we should really do more often, I’d ask, when do you get your writing done? How do you make time for it? What are you working on, and can I read it?
READING! I’m so glad you asked.
Actually, I’ve sucked at reading so far this year. Possibly because I’m writing more, even if it’s about the frustrations of not writing, it’s still writing.
Anyway, I’ve read 8 books so far this year. Good books, but only 8 of them.
My most recent finished book is All The Beautiful Lies, by Peter Swanson. I’ve enjoyed everything he’s written, and I think his books get better and better. Read him if you want a creepy, rainy day type of book. And please suggest more rainy day books for me to read.
What are you reading?
In the blogging world, I’m writing up the circus trip, working on a list of blogging and writing resources I’ve used recently (two different posts, because blogging and writing are two separate, but connected things.). Edit: Blogging tips post is now over here.
Also, I’m writing a thinker piece on how sometimes I don’t feel American enough, over and above the whole living in a different country thing. Hi.
And as a follow on from this post over here, I’d like to do a roundup post of self-care for disabled people, which means all people, but especially if you find the usual go-to options not an option. Yes, I’m looking at all the non-runners, but anything that works for you, wheelchair-user or not.
If you would like your ideas and your blog link added to an upcoming round-up post, comment here or email me.
If we were having coffee, I’d like a breakfast bagel, and a real pizza and a teleporter. And I wish this beverage was the non-virtual variety.
But we work with what we have.
If you’d like more #weekendcoffeeshare link up with Alli over here!
And there’s always my new FB group, Blogging & A Beverage.
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34 Comments
I wrote loads when the others were asleep, early in the morning.
Reading Amanda Prowse’s How To Fall In Love Again.
Am just shattered after another LOOOOONF roadtrip to get to my Pops.. will be here looking after him at him home now for 10 days!
I’m glad Pops is home and that you are together. Does he know that the whole blog world wishes him well?
I’ve been telling him… Not sure he realises quite how many good wishes he has had sent his way ?
Great post. I covet some quiet, alone time in the morning to just get focused, post something, and get ready for the day. I have a backlog of books to catch up on, just finished the great Writer Paul Theroux’s slim memoir “Sailing Through China” – afraid to read fiction as you need consistency to keep up with plot lines…enjoy your writing very much!
I always enjoy your blog, John. Impressed with the thought and work that goes into your posts. And you’ve given me an idea for a fiction recommendations post!
Thanks so much, love your posts – the life balance is a fun one, huh?
Love joining you for coffee.
I’ve been reading way more than writing. About to start Beartown by Fredrick Backman. Have you read it?
I’ve facebooked you my self-care thoughts.
Have read it, but I got it on Netgalley. Should probably get to it!
I feel like I spend all my time doing mundane stuff in the middle of being with my kids too. I did read The Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and sobbed like I was related to him. I then read Keep them Safe by Melissa Hill in two days because the subject was gripping (parenting and vaccination controversy in a chick lit setting). So reading wise I cannot complain!
I am not sure that I have a formula for getting it done. I am so easily distracted. But I use the dining room table as my office and stay there sometimes until late at night when the house goes quiet. I’m a night owl.
I was just thinking the other day about where I write and if it has any effect on me and my inability to write lately. I don’t really have a dedicated place to write. I write using my phone (yup) with my fat ass on the couch. I usually have my headphones in with some inspiring music to drown out the anime being watched ??
Change of scene, bring a laptop and your travel notebooks to a coffeeshop and write all the things.
I need to do that!
If we were having coffee, I’d be having tea! I do my most of my writing in the early morning hours. Up at 5, put the kettle on, brew my loose leaf tea and hit the keyboard. Then the kitchen. Then the patio for a natural light photo shoot of the finished product.
I’ll join you for a cup of tea anytime! I’m not doing much writing, lots in my head but no time to get it out, but that will change soon enough – as I go home in a few days ? I’ve read lots of easy detective stories on my kindle while flying here there and everywhere but have collected quite a lot of recommendations for books to read from friends along the way. Nice to read your words – there’s not been a lot of blog reading lately either, which I’ve missed. That will change soon too. Nice to visit you ?
Must be weird to be going home after all this time! Safest of trips and happy blogging when you get back! x
Yes it seems very weird to be home now. Not quite the return trip we had planned….
I know. I’m sorry for your family’s loss.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I’m relistening to Everything is Awful by Matt Bellassai. It’s pretty funny and I want to do a book review about it. I’d also tell you that I write first thing in the morning while everyone is still asleep and at night after everyone goes to bed!
If we were having coffee, I’d bore you with my frustration of writing about writing and writing about the business of writing–but not actually writing enough of the stuff I should be writing. Wow–I’m boring myself already. I’d tell you that book you just read sounds good and that I’m reading more poetry, or trying to, which I blogged about yesterday. And I’d tell you that I am already waking up in the middle of the night nervous about presenting at a literary festival in the fall–for which I just ordered business cards!–and ask you how you deal with nerves. I need some tips, because I’m a worry wart and a bit of a freak.
Oh, ramble on, please. And I actually have tips, thank you for asking, ha! Post happening soon.
If we were having coffee, I’d be sitting here tugging on my post-op bra since I’m STILL healing from surgery July 6.
I’m reading 2 fat books slooooowly — A Bright Shining Lie, Neil Sheehan’s superbly reported and written history of the VietNam war and Richard Ford’s The Lay of the Land. I love his writing style and his intimacy with — of all things — the suburban NJ landscape. I just gulped down Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, which is now on HBO here as a 6-part series.
I also recently binged on the BBC series Happy Valley.
I’m being URGED by a writer pal to get down to writing my murder mystery that’s been’s in my head for more than a decade. MUST find the nerve…
Yes, you must. Gentle hugs and Manhattan cocktails to you. I must read Sharp Objects, too.
🙂
My hugs have all been one-armed of late.
I’ve actually been arm-hugging with Isla a lot this week. She’s almost got it. Lots of elbows.
Right? Any hug better than no hug.
This is interesting! I also do my best writing when it’s only me up. I usually have my best ideas around 4am. I have my first cup of coffee, and write drafts for blog posts, or maybe a chapter for my book about gardening (that have a very long time before it’s anywhere near finished..) Interruptions makes me lose track, and interest in writing. When I have the draft done, I can work with it during the rest of the day, when I have a few minutes here and there.
I read a lot! My goal is to read at least on physical book (more than 300 pages) a week. I’m reading more than that most weeks. I like reading historic novels/biographies about places I’ve been to, and the people who once lived there (at least in the story.) Half of the books are that kind of books, the other half have to do with gardening, and homesteading. Once in a while I read horse books as well, different training methods, horsemanship etc.
Thanks for a very interesting blog post. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
I think I just trumped my reading challenge for the year, well past 52 books so far whoop whoop, my updated reading list is books fantasy books based on African lore and myths, I think I will write such a book too, where the mgic in our ancestry is not witchcraft but science….
~B
Oh, reading! I used to be such an avid reader. Now, do blogs and online articles count? lol Since having my daughter (now 2) I have barely read any fiction. I have been reading poetry books though lately, digging that.
Hi Lorna,
Wow – we don’t hear enough from you around here, but when we do you arrive like a tsunami, which is refreshing in a nature-knows-best kind of way. Anyway, I love seeing your URL show up in the list. So, yes, we really must do this more often.
Okay – when I write best :: This is terrible, but I get my best ideas when I’m busy doing something (like work) that I can’t interrupt and, as fate has doomed me, that’s also when I seem to write my best writing. I work from home and often find strange gaps in what I must be doing long enough to squeeze in a few minutes of writing, then I can zip along and capture a thread that I can later come back and clean up.
I’ve always wanted to be that writer who writes it once and can call it done. For me that would be a gift from God himself. But alas, the best thing about blogging is that I can post, find something later that either needs to be fixed or would be much better if I changed this one bit, etc.
What I suggest you add to your reading list :: This is my personal #1 recommended book, but beware, I had one person who asked for a suggestion for vacation reading, come back angry at me because I ruined their Hawaii vacation because the book is long and she couldn’t put it down. My father’s girlfriend complained to me that she missed most of Hawaii because of this book. It’s kinda twisted, but I thought that was funny.
Here’s the Amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Bruce-Herschensohn-ebook/dp/B005YP70JA/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1532911357&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=passport+by+bruce+her
At 900 ish pages, it would count as 3 books by your formula and you’ll be moving in with it for a while. Everyone I’ve pointed to it has loved it. It is historical fiction, a story about American foreign policy from the late 1950s through to the mid 1990s. It is all over the world with compelling characters moving around some of the most significant pieces of history of that whole period. I have wished the author would do a follow up from the mid 1990s to current. It is a most remarkable read.
I note that you can get it as a e-book now, but I would recommend getting a (used only available now) copy because you may find yourself going back and forth some and you may want to loan it out after reading it yourself. I finally bought a 2nd hard copy, but they’re cheap so not a problem.
I don’t know if you would enjoy my preferred genre; hard Sci Fi. My current favorite is pretty much anything by Douglas Richards. Again, very compelling characters in very realistic science based situations. As you read this author, you will accidentally learn some substantial concepts of physics that often confounds those of us who would otherwise study this stuff for fun. His “Quantum” series is both fun and amazing and intelligent with characters you will quickly care about. This is easily some of the best science fiction I’ve ever read and is right up there with the Arthur Clark’s of the world.
I hope I’ve thrown something your way of compelling interest. Please come back soon. You are missed when you don’t.
Regards,
Hello once more *waves* I feel like we are pals already as you are one of my go to bloggers. I would make us a cuppa and tell you that when I am well. I write early, song birds and sunlight are my alarm. I write with the plan of doing so until the soft rumble eminating from our bedroom stops. The morning sounds then alter and turn into feet thumping, body scratching and the sporadic wind releasing that alerts me (better than any timer) and accompanies the arrival of the husband. That can signify I have had four to four and a half hours writing time. But I have not mastered a stopping time. If I am social media answering and blog writing I stop. If I am in my novel, (i have a room there you know) or in the throws of research I can still be writing, being delivered tea and sustenance long into the night. I have been known to have two consecutive days in the same pj’s. If I am having a not so well (medical condition) time, I can’t read or write for more than a few minutes so I just tweet or Fb in good moments. Which is why I probably binge write when I can.
If we were having a coffee, I would be ranting about my inability to get anything meaningful done. I am literally living the best life in the world right now, yet I can’t seem to put my butt in gear and get much writing or reading done! I have been adding to my Idea Book, but not completing any of those ideas.
Can we have some biscuits with our coffee, since I have also managed to fall off my healthy eating wagon.
I would even share my Oreos with you.
OMG. I just found the most amazing cookies here. They are shaped like Oreos, but they are orange and chocolate flavored. Just amazing really. I will bring those along on the day that we finally get to have coffee.