I took a break last week (as you may or may not be able to tell from my sporadic postings). First my cat got sick, then I got sick, and I just needed some time off. To do what? Well, pretty much nothing. Basically, I gave myself permission to not complete my usual five hours minimum of writing work last week. I still did some (it's really hard not to, since I like what I do so much) but definitely not five hours.
I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, my five hour minimum. I know--it sounds puny, right? Five hours of the 168 we have every week isn't a large percentage. But when you subtract time for work (the one that pays), sleep, eating, prep time, errands, and chores (not to mention non-writing fun time), five hours starts to sound more reasonable. Some weeks it even seems like too much. Other weeks, well, it's a minimum number; there's no max. So I'm very happy with my five hours a week.
After my week of recovery, where am I at? Impatient to sell Madison, eager to start the next one. Impatient to be done with Areia edits. Ready to sell it. Ready to start the next one. I'm also reminding myself to enjoy the process, to be in the moment. Actually being back in the writing will help.
Thus, in the back of my mind, I'm ramping up for another 50,000 words in 1 month for the next Madison book. (It would be lovely to sell two or three at once.) I don't think I'll wait until November for the official National Novel Writing Month. I think it'll be sooner. In the meantime, I've returned to Areia. There's nothing quite like working on another project to make the dormant project come to life. And there's nothing like a quick 80,000 word book to make the 400,000 word one seem ridiculously long. The scissors are coming out soon, folks. This book needs trimming. It's time to embrace the moment.
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