Thursday, January 20, 2011

A kick in the pants

So. Today I received perhaps the swiftest kick in the pants I could ever think to get. Let me set the stage. I'd just come back to work from having lunch with Mom, Dad and my sister. The last words Dad spoke were, "Go do some writing tonight." To which my mother replied, "She's helping plan our cruise tonight." Now, God love Dad, but he doesn't really have the clout to give me a proper kick into high gear. But someone does. I'm leading up to who.

Anyway, I head back to work ready for a nice dose of afternoon lethargy thanks to the hot turkey sandwich I had for lunch. I settle into my chair, grab the iPad and start skimming through emails. It's a nice easy way to ease back into work. But you know when you have this moment where something jumps off the page at you, leaves you gob-smacked? That's what happened when I saw Suzanne Enoch's name in my in-box. Yes. The Suzanne Enoch I mentioned in my first post who I blamed for my December procrastination since I spent more time reading her novels than working on mine. (If you're looking to read something while you settle into the long haul of waiting for something to read from me, I recommend A Lady's Guide to Improper Behavior. One of my favourites. My mother-in-law gave it to me for Christmas. Loved it!)

She read the blog, left me a lovely comment and more importantly, gave me, likely unbeknownst to her, my goal for the weekend. 5 pages a day. Which, for Saturday and Sunday, will be 10 pages for the weekend. An ambitious goal, but achievable, I think. If I can follow the advice that seems so prevalent from other authors... Get your butt in the chair.

So now that I have the goal, and am fueled by that kind comment, I'm going to set off to accomplish it. Who knows. The way I'm feeling at this moment, I just might get some writing in tonight. Or at least some thinking.

I have a feeling this is going to be the year I finally do it. And it's in no small part thanks to the support I'm getting from everyone who's reading this blog. Thanks for your time. I really appreciate it.

Oh, and if you're wondering which parent I obeyed tonight, let me say that Mom and Dad have a lovely cruise planned to the Eastern Caribbean. But it's only 9:30. I can still listen to my Dad. I know he's reading, so I'd better.

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