Well, dear readers, after a somewhat irritating morning, things settled down and it was an interesting day. Let me tell you something, irritating morning, just get the HELL out of here. Who needs it? I’ve had my fill, baby, and you can go take a long walk off a short pier. When one has an irritating morning it is so hard to get back in the creative mode. It just saps your energy. And it sapped mine, certainly. I had a headache from it and it took me two hours to get back in the swing of things.
I’d gotten about seven hours of sleep and got up at ten and immediately had to deal with one thing after another and it was just ridiculous. So, I opened the book but didn’t do any work because I was not in the mode. Instead, I decided to have some food – a patty melt with no fries or onion rings – and then I came right back home and just began futzing and finessing, after taking some Tylenol. Once I was in the mode, I did the usual smoothing out and adding and subtracting. I hadn’t liked what I’d done where I left off the previous night – it didn’t feel right at all, so I cut it all and wrote a whole new page, plus added one half page to something earlier in the book – something had come to me and it was pretty funny so I thought, why not? I did a couple of pages and finished the chapter I was on. Then came a really frustrating few hours of writing. I just couldn’t find a way to start the chapter that made me happy. I tried five different things. I did write five pages, but the rhythm wasn’t right and none of it felt good.
Then I took a break and had a fun meeting for about forty minutes, and then I went right back to the book. I rearranged things, smoothed it out and it was better. I’d already decided that the book would have two more chapters and I kept obsessing on that and something felt wrong about it, so I began to think about making two chapters one really long chapter that would include all that material. But then the way I’d begun the chapter really didn’t feel right to me and I just kept beating my head against that wall. I’d written nine or ten pages by that point but when pages are that hard to write something is wrong. And we all now two wrongs don’t make a write. We don’t allow groaning here at haineshisway.com. I’d take breaks, come back, and I just was not happy. So, I did what I always do in times like that – I took a shower. And that did the trick.
I immediately realized how I had to start the chapter. Why I couldn’t see that earlier is anyone’s guess, because there IS no other way to start it, it’s the only way that makes sense. So, I came right back to the book, wrote a new opening that ran about three pages, then I was able to use what I’d written earlier by just adding a few things and cutting and pasting it in a different order. Finally I was on my way – I did end up writing fourteen pages, and thank goodness they feel right now. Whew! That just turned my whole day around – I love when that happens. And that’s workin’ it out.
I did find time to listen to a couple of CDs, so music is always helpful. I had some cheese and pepperoni slices for my snack, along with an apple.
Today, I’ll be up by ten and writing merrily away and hopefully with NO irritations whatsoever. Now that I know I’m in the final chapter, which will be a long one, at least in manuscript form, the way should be fairly clear. I have one little decision to make but I don’t have to make it for a while and I may run it by Muse Margaret first, so I don’t waste my time. I may just have a snack during the day, or I may have a small breakfast, because I think some of us will get a bite after the stumble-through. That begins at five o’clock and we should be done by six-thirty. When I’m home from the meal, I’ll resume writing, unless I’ve already done enough pages before rehearsal, which I actually hope is the case. I could use a nice night of relaxation.
Tomorrow I’ll print out pages and Xerox them and get them to Muse Margaret. Then I’ll come home and get ready and then mosey on over to The Federal for sound check and then show. I’m sure many of us will go out to Little Toni’s after. I will, of course, have a full report. Then it’s my intention to finish the book, most likely by Tuesday or Wednesday, then I’ll get those final pages to Muse Margaret and hopefully she’ll like them and that will be that. Grant Geissman is already working on the cover. I also have meetings and meals and a couple of shows to attend.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, snack, write, have a stumble-through, eat, write and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: My least favorite kind of food is Indian food. I had a bad experience in the early 1970s and wouldn’t go near it again, until dear reader Jeanne made me. That lunch was fine and I enjoyed it. So, what Indian dishes do you like? And are you like me about any specific kind of food – is there some ethnic food that you absolutely cannot stand? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy I worked out the problems and am in the last chapter of the new book.