Musings & Thoughts for Friday, July 28, 2023, or: To Write or Not to Write…A Sleepy Writer Wonders After a Restless Night

Late Morning, Friday, July 28, 2023, Lithia, Florida

Hello, Dear Reader. It’s another sweltering summer day in the Tampa Bay area on this last Friday of July 2023. As I write this, noon is still over one hour away, and even though the official temperature is 85°F/29°C under sunny conditions, the feels-like factor is 93°F/34°C. Today’s forecast calls for scattered rain showers in the midafternoon and a high of 94°F/34°C, so if you live in Hillsborough County and must be outdoors for work or any other unavoidable reason, be sure to be both hydrated and have your umbrella handy.

Action This Day

Today, of course, is the last day of a regular workweek. As such, I should be working on the manuscript for Reunion: Coda, and as I write this, that’s still the top item on my agenda. Regardless of what some uninformed – and biased – yahoos out there think about me, I have a strong work ethic, as well as a strong desire to be successful as a writer. And since I am keen on completing the first draft of Reunion: Coda sooner rather than later (without rushing), I strive to write at least a little bit on the manuscript each working day.

That having been said, I had one of those weird nights where I fell asleep watching a movie (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which incidentally is the last film I saw in a theater rather than on home media) relatively early, then awakened – due to a nightmare, of all things – at an ungodly hour (4:40 AM) and almost didn’t fall asleep again.

Luckily, I did go back to sleep again, but from my perspective, it took me a long time to do so. I have no idea how long I tossed and turned or tried to “will myself” to relax, but in my mind, it felt like hours. So, I have no idea how long I slept this morning; all I know is that I woke up shortly before 8 AM and that I felt – and still feel – tired.

And if that weren’t enough, I have no idea whether I should write a third scene for Chapter 10 and then see what develops – a fourth scene, maybe, or move on to Chapter 11, a 1983-set part of the story?

I hate waking up like this: tired, foggy-brained, knowing that I have work to do but not feeling confident that I can, indeed, get anything done. Especially when it comes to a project I have invested time and energy in and one that I want to see all the way through to completion.

Hopefully, after my daily rest break, I will feel more energized, enthusiastic, and confident. I really do. I have hopes that my novel – at least the first draft – will be finished by the end of meteorological summer and that I’ll be able to publish it well before December. And if I can write well today, I’ll not lose a day of productivity and be able to take Saturday and Sunday off.

Edited to Add: Actually, the Jim and Maddie phone call turned out to be a complete and separate scene of its own, so I adjusted the “story board” (see image below) to reflect this reality.

If I can’t?

Well, of course, I’ll make up the lost day tomorrow and forget about Saturday being a day of rest. But, in all honesty, I’d rather work today.

And, that, Dear Reader, is my action plan for this awfully hot last Friday of July 2023.