Fire it up

I wrote 914 yesterday on my Mermaid story. The amount and quality of writing is not remarkable. What is remarkable is that this is the first longish stretch of creative writing I've done in about three weeks. I've had laser vision on the critical thesis, but it's time to get back to the novel, and working on the short story is my way of warming up to doing that.

It's been brilliant to have some days away from the thesis, catching up on cleaning and sleeping, though the foot of my desk still looks like this:


Can't wait to make the last changes to my thesis and get these back to the library.

Honestly, my novel terrifies me. It's been a long time since I touched it. Having the time lapse will be good for looking at it with fresh eyes, but I find myself putting that off. I'm a little scared of what I'll find. During residency this summer I had the revelation that I might have too much story for one novel, that I might have been writing about two different protagonists even. Back then, in mid-July, I felt fired up about taking my work apart. One of the faculty told me if I could do that, tear it up and piece it together again, then I'd really be a writer. By tomorrow night, I intend to have taken a big step towards reclaiming that fire.

Meanwhile, the Monkeys after-school program starts today, and I teach at another school tomorrow morning. I'll be fired up for that once I get in the classroom, but at the moment, what I really want is a nap.

Currently reading: The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall