Surfacing

I realized early last week that I would not have a full, revised manuscript to give to CWC on the 28th if I didn't do something drastic. Even with working on it during lunch hours, stealing time at work and using every unbooked evening wasn't going to get me there. So I took Friday off and left it open to take this Friday off if I need to.

At first, I had a little trouble settling down. But it was nice to have a table to spread out my marked up pages, notebook, index cards, coffee, etc. Soon I was typing away, not only fixing old stuff but adding new stuff. There were interruptions, though. I was doing laundry at the same time--that old multi-tasking gene just wouldn't shut up. But I had 30 new pages at the end of the day.

Saturday I settled in much more easily. No laundry. No housework (which I'll pay for later). Just me and my story. I was so into it, there didn't seem to be anything else. I've never experienced that with revisions. First drafts, yes, but not rewrites. Before I knew it, I had 50 more pages knocked out. Pages that I was happy with.

Yesterday, I had to deal with some other obligations. And, man, was that tough. I felt like I had to fight my way up from the bottom of the ocean. The real world looked odd, off, foreign. I just wanted to go back into MY world, the one I had created. I was a bit snappish early on. Spent some time in the writing room, reading some of my friends' stuff. Not exactly my world, but not this one either. By the time I met a friend for a play at Theatreworks, I was back here.

It's probably a good thing I did that yesterday. I'm not sure my boss or coworkers would be very understanding about it. Snapping at the boss or customers is not a good idea. Especially if you need the job.

I'll still need to take this Friday off. Possibly Thursday, depending on how much I can get done during lunch breaks and after work. But now, instead of feeling like I'm wasting vacation time, I'm looking forward to getting back to that world.