in which to work today and I don’t have them. Will try to make the time that I do have count.

I need to write the museum scene. Which is both easy and hard. Easy because I’ve written versions of it before and know approximately where to go, though this time is different. Hard because it feels like a really important scene and that means pressure, the issue of choking. Can we use a different word? What do I mean by that? What I mean by choking is that I suddenly won’t be able to do a thing I’ve assumed all along I am able to do. By which I mean this scene? Or the whole book? I guess both. Which, first of all, I’ve never assumed all along I could do this.

I think maybe I’m talking about how I’ve been pleased with the progress I’ve been making in the past few days and during the rest of the day now I’ll often project how long until I’m done if I continue at this pace. And I’m only on Chapter 3, so there’s a part of me that thinks it’s really dangerous to make plans because what if I don’t follow through on them? Which, there’s a lot of validity to that position. And I need to allow enough time to rest and take care of myself, there is that. Last night I thought maybe I could work but it became clear after the kids went to bed that I just needed sleep, so I made that happen.

So look, it’s okay to have ambitious goals. And it’s okay not to meet them. It’s all good. BUT if there is ever a fork in the road, where you could equally choose to work on the book or do something else, it might be a good idea to remember the lofty goals, without shame, I think that is the key. It might be interesting to see what happens if you set a challenging goal and then meet it.

So anyway. The writing this morning. How do I do this?

1. 2 minutes of breathing.

2. Look at your scene outline.

3. Smudge yourself and the computer.

4. Write the scene.

5. Go.