Capital District February 2009 Day 02

Friday, February 6, 2009

I awoke at 6:00am, but considering the 3-hr. time difference, that was early—even for me! Nevertheless, I enjoyed the thought of getting up “early” and starting my long writing-day with a big cup of coffee, some scrambled eggs and my favorite coffee-cake from a nearby bakery. The short walk in the frigid air (22°) woke me up even further than the coffee alone could have. I poured over the newspaper for 30 minutes, and headed back to the hotel where, by 8:00am, I was ready to begin writing.

As I told you, I hope to make some headway on the book I’m writing about Gift-Mixes. It has been in my heart to write the book for several years. Last year, I got a good start, finishing half of it. I know it’s time for the other half—but, oh, what hard work it is to write!

I worked from 8:00am-4:00pm with only a short break for lunch. I barely managed to get a third of the way through the first chapter of the second half (4-5 pages). That discouraged me a bit. “Am I on the right track? Is this really what I’m supposed to devote my time to doing? Maybe the whole concept for the book is flawed! Etc.” The doubts assailed me until I remembered just how hard writing really is. Never mind that I’m not a fast typist. I grind out the pages one sentence at a time, and they do not come quickly…

Late in the afternoon, I did my power-walk on a treadmill, and went to dinner at Baja Fresh (one of my favorite places). Afterwards, I was going to see a movie (being careful to choose one that Pamela wouldn’t want to watch with me), but the mall and movie place were packed with people (what recession?), so I opted out of that idea. So I simply returned to my hotel to spend the evening with my computer and the TV. I’ve learned NOT to try squeezing out any more writing/work at night unless I absolutely must. But it was tempting to work since there was nothing interesting to watch on TV.

I did NOT finish the article on the economic downturn so I’ll try to get to that tomorrow.

If you are interested, I include the small bit of my book that I did manage to write; remember, it’s the first draft, so it will still be rough reading…

Click on the PDF link below to read the draft:

Exhorters: The Great Encouragers