Friday, July 27, 2007

No Rest for the Whacked

This week has been a tough one, for a reason I haven't faced before. I have no schedule and it's driving me nuts. I wake up when I feel like it (anywhere from 4 am to 8:30 am, so far) and I spend my morning in a blend of web-surfing and leisurely writing. Then we go run some errands and come home. I write some more, we might nap for a while. We have dinner and watch a movie. Then I lay in bed and read until I'm sleepy. This should by idyllic for me, and there are moments when I really enjoy this, but I'm not so good without structure.

I'll need to structure myself for the next three weeks.

I finished reading Thom Jones last night. It was good, but maybe what I got from it that will benefit me most was that a) I write this well, and b) Thom Jones was even older than I am now when he started publishing. The stories all had Vietnam, epilepsy, boxing, and boxer dogs--or some combination of these (with the exception of "I Want to Live!").


Now I'm reading William Kennedy's Very Old Bones. I found a hardcover copy for 99 cents in an Oklahoma City gift shop in May (along with Philip Roth's Operation Shylock), so I almost feel like I'm cheating.

2 comments:

Jerry said...

Free time like that can be a trap. It feels good initially but the longer it lasts the more you want to keep on being lazy. It is good that you are keeping up with the writing. At least that can be considered as "doing something". I have to admit I am a little envious. I think my next real day off will be in about a week.

Mike said...

I myself am experiencing such a trap. I'm still job hunting, and so I really have no structure to my days. Actually, this evening represents a small change in the situation: starting rehearsals for a production of "Oliver!" In fact, the only reason I get up before noon anymore is that I have to spritz water into Skulle's tank each morning to make sure he has enough humidity to be comfortable.