Musings & Thoughts for Friday, July 21, 2023, or: On Writing Stories on a Sweltering Summer Day in Florida

Midday, Friday, July 21, 2023, Lithia, Florida

Hi, there, Dear Reader.

It is a suffocatingly torrid day here in the Tampa Bay area. As I write this, the temperature outside is, according to the Weather app on my computer, 91°F/33°C under partly sunny conditions. The heat index is quite high – the “feels-like” temperature is 104°F/40°C, and since the forecast high is expected to reach 93°F/34°C in the afternoon (heat index of 118°F), Hillsborough County is under a heat advisory from the National Weather Service.

Well, I wasn’t planning to venture outside. I know I need exercise, and I know that getting fresh air and sunshine might help me get out of the gloomy mood I’m in. But I can’t stand the heat, and it’s a fact of Florida life that guys my age who are mostly sedentary and only exert themselves on occasion – usually by playing several rounds of golf with their friends – tend to die of cardiac arrest or heat stroke. So even though I’m not in the best of spirits lately, I am not in a hurry to “fuck around and find out” by taking a long stroll in 90-degree-plus weather.

Action This Day

Today is, of course, still a working day for me, so I will work – in some fashion – on Reunion: Coda. I have not figured out whether I’ll resume writing fresh copy and complete Chapter 10, Scene Two, or pore over what I’ve already written since March and fix problems – large, small, or in-between – in the text and then push forward to finish the tenth chapter. 

I’m hoping that my mood – that major determiner of how things go, at least as far as writing goes – improves and that I’ll choose Option One. Scene Two of the current chapter is a Jim-and-Maddie passage, and because their interactions are usually fun to write (regardless of whether they’re talking on the phone or interacting with each other in person), I enjoy creating them.

Unfortunately, I must be in a good mood to write those scenes. Writing fiction is tough enough for me because I’m still learning how to do it well; writing witty and romantic dialogue that’s believable and not full of romcom cliches is harder still. And since in my experience, it’s easier to write scenes that are funny, realistic, and emotionally satisfying when I’m not battling my inner demons, a positive attitude is equally important to me as having a working computer and the various apps (Microsoft Word, WriteItNow, and Kindle Create) I need to write and self-publish my stories.

And because mid-to-late July is usually not a period when I’m bound to be cheerful, “thinking positive thoughts” is going to be…challenging.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to try to get into a “Can Do Spirit” state of mind.

It does, however, mean that the way I feel right now, the odds that I’ll write all-new material today are 50-50.

We’ll see what happens after my midday break.