For the past week, I’ve been in the middle of a tiny war. My house, overrun by fevers and hacking coughs, stuffy noses and aches and pains, feels like a cesspool of germs. My kitchen counter is steeped in antibiotics and decorated with post-its listing reminders of when and how much.
Recovery is slow. Currently, in order to breath through my nose, I must a) walk around in circles or b) lie down on my right side. It’s like a cruel joke, this little Spring time bug. All I want to do is stomp around, throw the kleenex, complain, and beg for mercy.
Times like these test a writer, especially a writer who is in the middle of cranking out a first draft of a novel. And, here’s one thing I know about first drafts: if I don’t spend time with my story (every-single-day), I will certainly get lost.
Lose steam.
Falter.
Because colds and bugs won’t be the only thing to get in the way of my push to The End, I had to come up with other ways to keep the story alive and on track, even if the word count was stagnant.
1. Read through research.
I have a short pile of books about the setting and times of my story, and reading through them has been one thing I could do while buried under covers, conveniently turned towards the right. As I read through those books, I took notes on scene ideas that come to mind or on details I wanted to remember.
2. Put pen to paper.
I may not have been able to type on a laptop while I walked in circles, but I could – quick – hand write a scene or a stream of ideas or dialogue onto paper. That counted, as it kept the characters in the novel at the forefront of my mind.
3. Be satisfied with whatever hit the page.
If I made it to my laptop, between the time my sinuses opened up and clamped shut again, and I managed 100 or 300 or (on a good stretch) 500 words, I was perfectly happy. Every little bit moved me closer to my goal.
What do you do to keep your eye on the prize?
*photo credit: anna gutermuth on flickr.com