Today is Monday, November 22: a week and a day until my NaNoWriMo deadline. I was “supposed” to write 4,000 words on the novel today, and so far I’ve written none. Typically as I approach a big writing deadline, I kick into Emergency Writing Mode. Regular habits like sleep, eating, and showering become not exactly optional, but wildly irregular. I eat when I remember to, shower when I have to, and sleep when I can no longer hold my head up. When I was an undergraduate, I had a body-abusing ritual that fueled my late-night, day-before-the-paper’s-due writing sessions. I’d sit at my desk with my typewriter (yes, one of those ancient relics), a hand-scribbled first draft, a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew, and a giant bag of Doritos. Hours (and countless Meaningless Carbs) later, I’d have a finished product, the final paragraph of which always began with the word “Thus,” followed by whatever half-assed thesis statement I could crank out before the arrival of the due-date’s dawn.
It’s a bit too early in the race to pull a home-stretch all-nighter…and I do have Thanksgiving break to make up for lost words. But after having not worked on the novel since yesterday, I’m feeling my Muse (or is that caffeine?) moving within me. There is, after all, an all-night convenience store just down the street that sells Mountain Dew and Doritos, so it would be easy enough to grab the ingredients to inspire an impromptu appearance of the Midnight Muse. Thus, another writer discovers the Keys to Creativity, delivered via the agency of sugar and artificial colors, inspiration by the two-liter bottle or bagful. Watch where you tread, Gentle Reader, and beware: the Writer is at work!
Hoarded Ordinaries 
Nov 23, 2004 at 4:44 pm
In fact, by your own admission, the writer *isn’t* at work. Why don’t you just admit that the writing contest is a dumb contest full of nothing, and you’re just as well blowing it off. At least, don’t pretend that you’re doing something you’re not!
LikeLike
Nov 23, 2004 at 5:35 pm
no need to be so harsh, hayden. writing isn’t always deadline-free and self-paced. writing contest are good ideas simply b/c they force you to complete something, so you can’t keep sitting around saying “it’s not finished yet.”
sometimes being under pressure gears up creative juices. at least that’s what always happens to me.
and lorianne, you were better than me with your mt dew and doritos and the night before. by the 4th year of college (now) i’ve resorted to doing the papers “the morning of” and eating/drinking absolutely nothing until i’d ran the finished pdt to the professor, catching him/her at the last minute when they’re getting in their cars to leave campus. haha, memories.
LikeLike
Nov 24, 2004 at 11:12 am
Hayden, after posting that entry, I settled in and wrote 3,000 words that evening, so the writer was just settling *in* to work. And yeah, the “contest” is dumb, but then again, thinking I could write a novel is pretty “dumb,” too. If any of us thought about how ludicrous the whole process is, most of us would ever sit down to write.
aboutlastnight, I agree with what you say about pressure getting the creative juices going: there’s a *reason* why one of my nicknames is “Last Minute Lori.” Writing contests & deadlines are two “gimmicks” that encourage us to work around our self-censoring, and I for one am thankful for all the help I can get! 🙂
LikeLike
Nov 26, 2004 at 10:04 am
My goodness, Hayden! Didn’t your mother ever teach you that if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all?
All I can say is, Dr. Disabato, “You go girl!!!”
LikeLike
Nov 29, 2004 at 12:56 am
One word at a time (or 3,000 if you feel up to it) … in the end, you’ll get there. You always do.
p.s. Not EVERY post has to be a work of art … sometimes, it’s perfectly okay to admit that things are still “under construction”, even if the only thing being fixed is a nice cup of tea.
LikeLike
Dec 1, 2004 at 9:34 am
Angela, my favorite line in the movie “Bambi” is where Thumper’s mother reminds him of the very advice you quote: “If you can’t say something nice…” 🙂
And yes, ntexas, “word by word” has always been my philosophy whether those words be artful or not!
LikeLike