Yesterday I had great plans for my evening. I was hoping to add between 1,000 and 1,500 words to In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People, as well as write several blog posts and do a little research reading.

However, yesterday was not the best day for work. I had a couple of hits against my ego and professional practices. They festered all day long, and even almost continuous rain couldn’t pull me out of my developing funk. After work I ate supper with my mother-in-law, got home by 7:00 PM and was in The Dungeon ready to work before 7:30 PM.

But I just didn’t feel like writing. Not anything. Not in the book, not blog posts. Nor did I feel like reading for research. I played a string of mindless computer games, read a few writing related blogs (and made a post on one), but got little done.

At some point I began working on TCSG, re-reading some recent additions, completing previously uncompleted thoughts, adding a little here, deleting some there, improving the wording in a few other spots. Eventually I began adding some new material to one chapter that was barely started. Throughout all this, I’d write for two minutes, read a blog for five, and play games for fifteen, then cycle back.

By the end of the evening I had just short of 600 words added. I was surprised at the amount. The total stands somewhere around 22,800 (I think; hard to remember after a sound sleep). The chapter I’m working on needs another thousand to be complete, but I’m not sure exactly what the direction I’m taking it in.

By the time this morning came around I came to a decision: I’ll back off writing for a little while and concentrate on other things, such as income taxes, filing, clean-up piles of stuff, etc. Perhaps by then I’ll have worked through some things, and will be better able to focus on the writing stuff. I’ll keep making blog posts, here and at An Arrow Through the Air. I might even work a little on editing In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. But TCSG is shelved for the moment.