We went to the grocery store when Bob got home from work. Driving down the highway, I could have sworn it was snowing. Bob told me I was crazy because it was 43 degrees outside. When we came out of the store it was SNOWING<\/i><\/b> and sticking and WTF winter where did you come from? Visibility was horrible on the drive home, but thankfully we were only about three miles away so we didn’t have to go far.<\/p>\n
In this process I discovered that my snow brush has magically disappeared from my car. Funny because my car sits in the garage more than it’s out and as far as I can remember there has only ever been one<\/i> instance of actually needing my snow brush this winter. And I’m not the one who actually used it. So…I have a theory. But I’m just going to leave it at that.<\/p>\n
Just before 10pm the power dipped in and out several times and finally went out altogether. So we sat in the dark. And realized we need more than one, tiny flashlight in this house. Just to be sure Bob called the after-hours number for the power company to report the outage and got a busy signal. So we figured they were getting hammered with calls. Our neighborhood was completely out and we could see from our window that the apartment complex next door was out too. We snuggled in bed and I yapped Bob’s ear off about my writing project. The power came back on right around midnight and all seemed to be well so we went to bed.<\/p>\n
And I slept for about three hours.<\/p>\n
Because obviously.<\/p>\n
I have countless things I want to write about here. I compose posts in my head and as soon as I open up a blank draft…it’s gone.<\/p>\n
Poof.<\/p>\n
Insomnia has been a real bitch lately. My sleep patterns take such dramatic swings in one direction or the other, it’s incredibly frustrating. It doesn’t help either that the anxiety has been on high alert lately, especially at night. And regardless of how tired I am when I get into bed, my brain inevitably starts running in about seventy-three different directions at once. Give or take. I can’t pay attention long enough to count them all before I relent and get out of bed before my restlessness starts to disturb Bob and I just feel like screaming for something to distract me.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, I write.<\/p>\n
I did some math the other night and figured out I’ve written roughly 120 pages and 55,000 words on this project. All in a matter of weeks<\/i>. It’s a very rough calculation, part because I seriously doubt Word’s word-count function is really all that accurate, and part because this spans multiple documents with a few redundant pieces. With that much written it could be constituted as a novel, but it’s nowhere near being a coherent cohesive story yet.<\/p>\n
Still. Holy crap. I feel a little accomplished with all that.<\/p>\n
I have fallen very much in love with the characters in this story. There has only ever been one other project I’ve been able to say that about. It is what keeps me stabbing away when the words don’t come and writer’s block stands strong. It’s tough to say if I love one group more than the other because they are two very different stories. I just know they are the glue that holds everything together. <\/p>\n
I have a soundtrack that has been slowly growing for this project. There is an overall playlist and a more specific one for a pair of characters. I build soundtracks for story projects all the time. It usually doesn’t go much beyond a handful of songs that really fit<\/i> the project, but this time there are a lot<\/i> of songs that just fit<\/i>. I’ve been listening to this playlist constantly for the past few weeks. I’m pretty sure it’s one of the primary reasons I haven’t lost my momentum on this writing business yet.<\/p>\n
I guess that deep-rooted emotional attachment I have with the music I love is useful for something.<\/p>\n
Despite racking up over three hours of music by now in this playlist, there is a handful of songs that stand out to me. If I had to narrow it down, these would be the most important tracks to list.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
#…Hopeless – Sister Hazel<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n #…Effortlessly – Sister Hazel<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n #…One Time – Sister Hazel<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n #…Just Say Yes – Snow Patrol<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n #…I Do – Better Than Ezra<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n #…Absolutely Still – Better Than Ezra<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n #…Our Finest Year – Better Than Ezra<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n #…Say – John Mayer<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Why yes, Sister Hazel<\/a><\/b> and Better Than Ezra<\/a><\/b> do<\/i> make up about half of the entire playlist. Why do you ask?<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n
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