I Tried to Write Yesterday
and this is what happened
Hi all,
This week I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with students at Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA about publishing, writing, and the creative life. Oh, and my book. It was fantastic! I love talking to students—undergrad, grad, whatever—and it was fun to see a cute, little town I’d never been to before. Their indie, Otto Bookstore, is apparently the longest continuously running bookstore in America! If you want me to come to your school (and they’ll pay me to get and stay there), drop me a line!
But besides all that wonderfulness, I got to spend the night in a corporate chain hotel. This one was a Holiday Inn Express, and it was immaculately bland. I love a corporate chain hotel and I often get SO much work done in them. Like I said on bluesky, it’s the physical embodiment of a white noise machine. Everything works and nothing hurts. I am cocooned in them. It feels like no one knows where I am when I’m staying in a corporate chain hotel. I love it.
I had a little time yesterday morning before I drove back to Brooklyn, so I opened my current WIP (a novel) and………..
These are all the things I thought as I went back to my WIP after being away from it for like three months
What the hell am I writing about?
I have to read this whole thing through before I start again.
I have to read my whole outline through before I start again.
Maybe I can write a newsletter about this experience.1
This is why I say touch your manuscript most days because if I’d taken my own advice I wouldn’t be in this mess and I could have been writing for the last hour instead of dragging my feet.
I am anxious and this sucks.
I can’t believe I only have 6000 words. I would have 30k by now if I had stuck to my plan from January.
What if I have to rewrite the whole thing already?
What if I just rewrite the whole thing right now? Start over so I won’t have to go back and reread these 6000 words?
Great, now I only have half an hour to write.
Oh hey let me go see what’s going on in the group chat.
Great, now I only have 20 minutes to write.