Flex

Not sure if my story is up today or not at Lurker Monkey's. I'm writing at 5:00 a.m., and I don't know if his eyeballs even function at that hour. But I thought about writing muscles.

See, when life is going smoothly, 5:00 a.m. is when I walk. The fact that I haven't lately is a pretty clear indicator of life going awry. Nonetheless, even after a hiatus, it always feels good to walk a few miles and feel the muscles flex.

That's why I do Lurker Monkey's story prompts. I think it's good once in a while to step out of my usual writing routine and do something new. I've written, I think, about 20+ novels, and don't even count proposals and chapters, and half-finished work in that. Usually, a novel is about "going long." Writing 300 pages. But a short-short is an entirely different beast. You can almost hear the synapses firing in a different direction.

Occasionally, I'll play with a poem.

Sometimes, I pray in written form.

Sometimes I write in longhand. Just because.

When I send cards for a funeral or for a wedding, I tend to search for a literary quote and handwrite it in a blank card with a personal note.

Even my Christmas letter is sometimes creative.

In any case, sometimes I think it's good to flex. To write something because it's different. When Lurker Monkey posts his prompt, I don't get to PICK what it is. And then the mission to create something around it begins. I flex.

So what do you do to work the writing muscles?

My Rhythm

So usually one of the first questions anyone who meets me and finds out I am a novelist AND a mother of four asks is . . . "WHEN do you find time to write?" And if the person is an aspiring writer, they ask, "Do you write every day?" The answer to the first is "Whenver I can" and the second is usually maniacal laughter, as in, "You've GOT to be kidding me."

But I do have a rhythm. Wake up before dawn, answer email, blog, organize my brain for the day. Get three of the four kids off to school, get baby up, and then write "when I can" My house has a rhythm of its own, and I know when I can enjoy a quiet half-hour and when that's futile.

But now, my parents are staying with me for the next two weeks. My father is blind, so that means NOTHING can be on the floors. No matchbox cars, no blocks. The three dogs must be kept out of his way since he can't see them. And so you know that rhythm thing? Gone! I have no rhythm because my world is completely out of sorts. I spend the day running after my toddler picking up the things he throws on the floor, having nightmarish visions of my father breaking a damn hip on a Lego.

It doesn't take much to throw off my rhythm. A cold. A kid in a bad mood. Visitors. Whatever. What fragile space I carve out for my writing disappears. Or the quiet and music I am used to is replaced by TV (my father watches TV all day . . . yes, watches--we have a HUGE set and he can see it a bit. And he can listen.).

Do you have a rhythm to your writing routine? What is it? Do you write every day? And can it be thrown off track easily?