Real Life writer Report 2

This is the Real Life Writer Report
for the week starting Monday, June 1st,
and ending Sunday, June 7th.

Monday:
Read at work for 30 minutes
Read at home for an hour.
Free write: 519 words

Tuesday:
Read at work for 45 minutes.
Read at home for 30 minutes
(finished the book! YAY! The book,
which I was rereading, is called THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE)
Drafted an email and formatted the manuscript for my freelance project, and send it along to my editor…30 minutes
Free write: 414 words
Gem:

(previous to this I listed 10 things I had going on)
But I should be able to handle this, right?
The thing is, I compare what I want to be doing with people who already have the whole day to do this stuff.
Yeah, they’re not lazying around doing whatever,
But they are not also ELEVEN HOURS away from the work they are doing on a daily basis.
That is my reality, until I make it NOT my reality.

I’m trying really hard to make it NOT my reality.
I know it’s slow steps and easy going,
But that is so hard for my personality.
I want to win and I want to win now.
I want to have the things I want.
I’ve been playing the slow game for a while and honestly I don’t want to play it anymore.

But honestly the slow game is really all I have, so I’ve got to keep playing it.

Wednesday:
Wrote at work 30 minutes (I’m writing my response to a story I’m reading, chapter by chapter. More details soon!)
Sent out an email with a first draft for my freelance project.
Free write: 1183 words
Gem:

Hooray huzzah this has been a good day so far.
I had a guy for a teacher today who turned 50.
He had this button on that said Happy Birthday.
I wondered for a second if he has the button and he pulls it out every year and puts it on,
And then I thought, “who the hell cares? He deserves to be celebrated on his birthday.”
I hoped he didn’t put the button on himself though,
Because I have this vision of someone giving him the button,
Dorkily pinning it on his shirt while he struggles to get away,
Saying, “They need to know it’s your birthday. I am SO HAPPY you were born,”
And kissing him on the cheek in a super loving way.

Thursday:
Wrote at work for an hour
(same project as above. And this is the time I have at lunch and in between set up of my stuff and the programs starting!)
Free write: 668 words

Friday:
Wrote for 30 minutes at work
Read for an hour at home(re-reading THE BOOK THIEF!)
Free write: 0 words

Saturday:
Read for two hours in the early morning
Book shopping spree at Hicklebees, for books for the SCBWI conference in LA. 200 dollars spent, but 50 dollar saved thanks to their balloon day promotion (more on that coming soon in a post!)
Bay Area Book Festival! Meeting authors and chatting up book minded people. On the way there (took the BART) I wrote out 4 more “word studies”
Free write: 1033 words. I’m proud of this one. I wrote it right after I got out of bed (after those luxurious TWO HOURS of reading!) and it just poured out of me.
Two gems:

I did not write yesterday,
And I realized it right before I went to bed,
And I didn’t care.
I let myself off the hook,
Because what’s the use of me being mad at my own self?
No use at all.

and

Love stories can be fantastical, they can be quiet and strong and unassuming, they can be right in front of our faces the whole time.
They can be something you’ve looked for your whole life and something that falls into your lap the moment you least expect it.
They can be all shades, all colors, all songs.
And the best part?
They can be true.
They can last.
They can be like this.
They can be one girl, in CA, sitting at the couch with her art strewn around her.
They can be one boy, in NY, with his family at the Taste of Syracuse.
They can be like that, multiplied by one million.
That’s the beauty of our world.
And that’s the beauty of love.

Sunday:
Woke up feeling SO SICK! Stuffy and sinuses galore!
Read one and a half hours (finished The Book Thief!)
Free write that will become a blog post about Saturday: 2458 words!

This week:
Was INCREDIBLY busy.
I had full days of work, except for Wednesday,
and I was FAR away. Every day was a 10 hour day, some were 11!
I went to capoeira two times (one less than normal)
and worked on Wedding invitations (hopefully they will all be out today!)

Oh, we’re also moving, did I mention that?
So I need to be packed up and out of here in a little over a week.

Needless to say,
editing might be set on the back burner for this next week.

I’m happy that I continued to do a lot of Free Writing,
and the Bay Area Book Fest was JUST the celebration I needed after
a rough week of work.

This week I have three half days.
Hoping to get A LOT of packing done 🙂

See you next week!
Bye for now,
Kathy Ellen