nixsight

Last Thursday I started a two and a half week break from work. People kept asking me if I was going anywhere nice, and tried not to look too disappointed when I told them that I was staying home for the whole time. When I told them that the break was to do some writing, they had to try even harder not to look a little sorry for me.

The truth is, I’ve been a very bad writer recently, and a worse blogger. Obviously, the last several months have seen me writing a story a week for Elephant Words, but aside from that, I’ve been rubbish. It’s difficult to see that, because over the last two years I’ve done more drawing and writing then in probably the ten years previous, but I’ve been slacking off badly lately, too content in my love and my life, and using it as an excuse for being lazy.

The worst sin of all is that “The Same River Twice”, the novel I started and completed 50,000 words of for Nanowrimo two Novembers ago, is just sitting on my computer, almost untouched. And it’s a blinding piece of writing, so far. I don’t often feel that about stuff I’ve done, so I really should have done more work on it then I have.

Anyway, so I had a week of holiday that needed taking before the end of April, and Girl One is going on holiday the second week of May, and I figured that, just by taking an extra week of leave, I could get myself three weeks of days where I’m alone more then I’m occupied, and there’ll be no excuse to not get some work done.

The problem, of course, is that anybody, especially any chap, left alone with an internet connection and some game consoles, can burn through three weeks effortlessly, and get bugger all done at all.  The only driving force that can get me and keep me off my arse over this period is guilt.

So, I decided yesterday that I’m going to tell everyone reading this of my plans, working on the logic that making a promise out loud feels more binding then just keeping it to myself. And I’m also going to be a better blogger, and post something substantial here every day during my break. It might be some pictures, it might be an update on how the writing is going, or it might be something else entirely, but I promise there will be at least one post a day here that isn’t just links to other people’s stuff.

Incidentally, this is going to count as today’s post… which may seem a little like cheating straight out of the gate. As yet, I haven’t written any of TSRT, but it’s in the plan.

As soon as I’ve posted this, I’ll be getting in a nice hot bath – with coconut and vanilla pod bath milk, and if that makes me a giant gay, then so be it – to soothe my aching bones. And maybe I’ll grab a snack – we have lots of leftover delights from the in-law’s visit at the weekend.

Then it’s time to write my Elephant Words piece for this week – I pulled Monday shift – but luckily I’ve already got an idea that should be bijou and swift off the keyboard.

Then I think I’ll kill a giant rock and moss creature that has done nothing to deserve my violent attentions.

And then I’ll take a look at the last few pages of the novel, and see if I can’t get a start on the rest of it.

At some point over the next few weeks, I may have a look at EW and see if I can fix some of the design flaws that niggle at me on it. And I’m going to try to do some drawing each day, and maybe even break the back of the comic I’m drawing for a friend of mine.

So anyway, these plans are out there, now – however few people read them -  so I should get on and try and make them happen. Time for my totally red-blooded heterosexual moisturising bath, I reckon…