Almost Quit

I was almost going to quit today.

Same old excuses - family, time constraints, lack of connection with my story. I was ready to pack it in - I had justified this quitting as ‘not a failure’, but rather ‘an acceptance of the reality of my situation’.

But somehow I didn’t. Sooner or later I have to stop quitting, and start following through. And why not now, eh? Why not try to catch up with Gonty’s amazing 10k?

So instead I cooked up a quick plan with Kymbo. She went out into the garden with the Hardman. She is working, he is blowing bubbles, they are happy (hopefully). I packed up Lola in the pram and headed up to the local cafe. No internet, no distractions (except for the cyclists out the window).

I sat down with a coffee, Jer’s Novel Writer open in full screen, one foot gently rocking the pram, and began to write.

I didn’t feel the story, or at least the section I was working on. It was dead, lifeless, and lost. But I persisted. One word at a time, just like Neil Gaiman said. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right.

Soon I was back in the swing of it, watching the scene unfold, discovering the characters, and smiling stupidly as the story opened up in front of me.

Sure, I only added about 1000 words, and have to head home again now, but I’m back on the wagon, for now. Let’s hope I can keep it going…..