6-19-13 RMB Writing

6-19-13 RMB Writing

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

So this is writing for me, on one particular night of a failed experiment to write in bed, the first and last time I will try that…I change into my sleepwear, which at the moment consists of a loose tank top and shorts, then I lay down in my bed because I am exhausted. But there are a few things I want to add to the story, the almost a novel story about the character America. So I stretch my legs out and prop my pillows up, setting my laptop on my lap. I type a while and lay my head back for a minute. A minute becomes an hour…or two.

I wake up. Think I should put the computer away and really go to bed. But first I want to finish my thought. One thought leads to another and an hour later I can’t keep my eyes open. So I rest my head back for a minute, legs still outstretched, laptop still whirring on my lap. A minute becomes an hour.

I wake up. It’s 2am now and I think I am wide awake. I type for a while, until I lay my head back to piece together some words that don’t seem to fit. I lose the battle to keep my eyes open. I sleep.

At 5am I wake up. I put away the computer, having “finished” the novel…again, I even type “The End” as my last two words, lest my helpful reviewers think to encourage more scenes.

I curl up in the fetal position, a welcome change to legs that have been stretched out for hours under my laptop. The pillow is cool and I have a half hour to sleep before I have to get up to get ready for work. A half hour becomes an hour.

I email friends and family the new “finished” version and head into work where, oddly enough, I feel exhausted. I guzzle down a pot of coffee.

I think to myself, this being a writer business…there must be a better way.

G’night,

Loraine