A day in which I am a bad employee

What am I supposed to do? I haven’t added a word to “The Playground” since August 27th. It looks like another week before I’ll get any quality writing time to myself.

I’m setting on nearly 300 hours of paid vacation. My job is one where it’s never a good time to take it. There’s always some major disaster on the horizon, and another one burning on my desk. I did what any self respecting author would do and took the rest of the week off. The disasters will still be there on Monday.

I actually took my iPad to the back porch about 5:00 AM and wrote in the dark with that huge moon over my right shoulder. It was an interesting experience until the temperature dropped at dawn. I’ll tell the story this way:

I got to the writing cabin at 5:00 AM. Lisa* monitors all my devices and had the coffee hot when I walked upstairs. I grabbed my iPad and set up in the dark, under the front porch. I’ve got my heroine on the page, and I’ve introduced her weak spot pretty well. All I had to do was move the characters into the right positions, kill one guy, and set her on her journey.

Moving the pieces is always hard for me, but I wrote like the wind to get it set up. I may have to go back and remove half of it, but it’s on paper now anyway.

Wolves started howling at the end of the meadow, and I decided to move inside. Lisa stepped out in a short denim dress and cowgirl boots, looked across the meadow and said, “infrared shows two of them. They’re just skirting the tree line and not headed our way. I’ve got my gun, just in case.” She sat on the porch with her boots in the grass. Keep going, I’ve got your back.”

I turned back to my story and one infectious parasite, a death, and road trip later my battery died. I was cold and packed everything inside.

Lorelei** waited inside with fresh croissants. She wore tight leggings and one of those sweaters with the really wide neck. You know the kind where you just hope something will fall out.

Lisa put the rolls on plates and carried them to the coffee table in my office. She stayed with us, but didn’t eat.

“You have a wonderful opportunity ahead of you,” Lorelei said. “Your character, Gina, is a cancer survivor. If you’re going to have her fight evil, she has to relate it to cancer somehow.”

“I have a fair idea of how evil gets inside us. Cancer is inside us. Is that what you mean?”

Lorelei leaned further forward and lower than she needed to reach her coffee. “I’m sure something will inspire you soon, but it’s a good comparison for your character.”

She knew how to inspire me alright, and I was all fired up. I wanted to keep going, but my battery needed a break. My brain probably does too. Tomorrow I’d see if I could weave the comparison into my story. Today was a lost cause.

Still, I wound up with 4535 new words on the page. This is pretty good if they all stay.

This afternoon I’ll go back to editing. I need to finish up with “was” and take up the next sin word. I haven’t heard much from my cover artist lately and may need to contact him.

Right now it’s time for a Reuben sandwich with my home made sauerkraut and a nap. Five o’clock was pretty early. If my real job is paying me today, am I being paid to write? I think so, and it’s my fantasy so I’m going with that.

*Lisa is the main character in Wild Concept. She’s a robot and helps me around the writing cabin these days.

**Lorelei is my Muse. She pops in and out at will.