Today, aside from an interesting trip to the 'Largest Thrift Shop in Los Angeles', I wrote. I have a first chapter that seems to be having problems and I decided to relentlessly bang away at it until I'd resolved whatever it is that is bothering me. End of the day and I've written 37 additional words and bought a Polo shirt that is remarkably ugly. And I still don't feel good about that first chapter.
sigh.
I played basketball in high school. It was girls intramural and I was not good. But it was girls intramural basketball and the poor coach probably felt that beggars couldn't be choosers and she tried to find a way to make me useful. My annoying slowness and irritating grin made me the perfect target for fouls, so she had me learn to shoot free throws. Hour and hours I'd stand on that free throw line during practice, finding the exact arc, the exact amount of pressure, the perfect lift and shove that would propel a ball reliably into the basket. I got pretty good. But still, it always was very satisfying and a little magical when the ball swished through the net.
When a sentence comes out just as you want it to. Or, better yet, when a chapter accomplishes exactly what you had hoped, it feels like that. There's practice, and theres the hours and hours of standing on the line, but there's also just a little bit of magic and luck to it.
Today I was 0 for 2 and I'm feeling pretty damned crabby.
Ah, intramural basketball. I was tall, but so clumsy that it was a miracle I stayed upright - also a source of despair to the coach. :)
ReplyDeletePossibly that shirt is sucking all the creativity out of the nearby environment. ;p
The shirt is like a sin-eater? I could leave it there and just blame everything on it?
ReplyDeleteAs appealing as this idea is, I'm pretty sure the shirt has nothing to do with the problem.
Heh, worth a shot. ;)
ReplyDeleteHey, I kind of like the shirt! That big marlin really makes a statement. :)
ReplyDeleteI hate to think what statement it makes. There's one on the back as well. Maybe the statement is, "I really want a fish on my ass."
ReplyDelete:-I
And who wouldn't really want a fish on his as, I say? Ha, ha! (btw, I left you an explanatory comment about the author thing over at my blog. Sorry about the typing! I'm trying to do this via iPod.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten you had jury duty. Don't they make you turn off your cell phones? :)
ReplyDeleteHi, yes, that's right. They don't even let you bring your cell phones. I was doing the comment from an iPod, which is a little different from an iPhone (no camera capability so it's a little more acceptable to the court). No jury duty today, though. I just happened to be away from my regular keyboard at home. :)
ReplyDelete