Am I the only writer who finds whatever part of the process I am currently working on is the WORST part? Though I admit there is a certain excitement about starting a story, a delightful sense of urgency about getting in on paper once I start to write and then a thrill of completion when I reach the end. (I always feel a little bit like Meg Ryan in her famous scene in When Harry Met Sally–I’m ready to cheer, I’m full of release thought no one can see the cause. LOL.) But there’s also times in each stage when, as my critique partner says, I bleed from the ears. The agony of writing.

Sometimes the task feels like this project. (A giant pressure vessel weighing 384 tonnes leaves Saskatoon, where it was manufactored, bound for the oilsands in Fort McMurray. Escorted by police, the convoy is travelling about 35 kilmeteres per hour. Photography by : Greg Pender, Saskatoon Starphoenix, Canwest News Service, The Edmonton Journal.) Can you see the man in the picture? Click on the picture to enlarge it.

 
 
 
 
 
This week I read an article from www.writersdigest.com called 10 Disciplines of a Fiction Writer by James Scott Bell. He suggests a number of things (10 to be exact) that make the writing less of a struggle. His suggestion of Super Tuesday really resounded with me. He says, “I have designated each Tuesday to be exclusively a writing day. I have other duties during the week, but I work it out so I can leave Tuesday completely free. I don’t schedule appointments or anything else on that day. My goal here is to blow through my usual quota of words. Sometimes I see just how far I can go. The result is often that wonderful feeling you get when you’ve been in “flow.” Time speeds up. You have done a great day’s worth of work.”
I love the concept of giving myself one day when nothing but my writing matters. The bills can wait. The errands in town can be done the next day. So I gave myself a Super Thursday this week. And it went well. I did about 7500 words. That’s almost three times what I can hope to do on a regular day. It felt so good. That’s the ecstasy of writing
Now I have to play catch up on other stuff–housework, bills, etc.