Sunday Morning, Comin' Down

Kris Kristofferson wrote the song, "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" many years ago. I guess it primarily deals with coming down from a drunken Saturday night, but if you take that phrase and apply it to yourself as a writer, what do you get?

For me, Sunday is a day I can just veg out...do nothing. But, I never do. (Actually, not even on Sunday.) The week is done, I've worked hard...and tomorrow, the work week begins again.

I am sooooo not a morning person, yet I get up early and start to work right away. Well, okay...I read my e-mail first. Whether it's bidding a project or projects for David, I have to be doing something. My grandmother always said, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." Well, the devil will just have to find another place to work. I'm always doing something. Even if I'm watching tv, I usually have something to work on, whether it's knitting or editing a manuscript.

Editing a manuscript. Hmm...I seem to do a lot of that lately. I try to have something ready to edit if plans change suddenly...Like an emergency trip to a dentist. I just grab my manscript and go. I keep a bag ready (I really am a bag lady), snag it as I dash for the car and I'm set. Two hours in the dentist's waiting room and I can edit a lot of pages.

Being prepared...Every writer should be prepared for those moments when he or she has idle time. Just this week-end, I spoke at the Carolina Writer's Conference. While I was waiting for my time slot, I had thirty idle minutes. I can't stand it! I hate it! I wasn't prepared for that. In my mad dash to "streamline my process" and "reduce the number of bags" I travel with, (and spare my back) I'd left my work bag in the car. In that bag, I carry a baby name book (Lareina Rule, Name Your Baby), a wirebound notebook, a variety of pens and pencils, chocolate and whatever I'm working on at the moment.

Oh, God! What could I do? A normal person would probably have walked down the two flights of stairs out to the parking lot and retrieved the damned bag. But, nooooooo...not me. Not in heels anyway. I sat there, bristling at my lack of foresight...but not for long! In the goody bag provided for speakers by the very kind people who organized the conference, I found three sheets of paper. One was a map. The second was a list of area restaurants. And, the third....damn if I can remember. But, the back sides were blank! A veritible gold mine!

So, I took about three minutes to calm and center myself and then started to work. You see, I had this character come to mind, nearly a full-blown character...no, really, during DragonCon. She's very dark, darker than any protagonist I ever wrote about. I started thinking about her and voila--ideas started to flow. I could hardly jot them down fast enough to keep up with my thoughts. Before I knew it, I had three good pages (very small writing) that explained a lot to me about her and about why she's so dark. I discovered a lot of things about her that just never occurred to me before.

All this has been percolating for several months, I suppose...and now, my devious little subconscious mind is revealing all. I got so excited about the notes I was scribbling that I might have been a little surly to the people who came to my workshop. Well, not really surly. But, they were definitely intruding on a very creative time for me.

Fortunately, I had a long drive home to think over all those notes and to fill in a few blanks. I really made use of that time. I hardly remember any of the actual drive. I got home around midnight, full of ideas. I jotted down a few more notes and went to bed.

And, now...It's Sunday morning comin' down. Coming down off a creative high that no alcoholic beverage, no drug can compare with. I'm sitting here in my recliner, computer on my lap and ready to commit to digital memory the exciting ideas from yesterday. These are moments that are precious to a writer.

Of course, the Kristofferson song went on to describe the smells of Sunday mornin' including the enticing smell of someone frying chicken...Okay...Fried chicken and then to work. Have a great day...

Write, write, write...