What a weekend! The weather was out of this world, my husband went away on rugby tour and the kids went to my MIL's. For two freaking nights!!! I had roughly 43 hours all to myself. The plan was to write as much as I could - at LEAST fifty pages.
But, man, I learned pretty quickly that I am out of writing shape. I've been writing in two maybe two and half hour stretches for four years now. Which is great, but I have no stamina. This weekend, every two hours I needed to move to a different part of my house, or a different coffee shop. The longest I think I could write in a stretch was four hours and that was first thing in the morning. Maureen's ability to put her head down and plow through twelve hour days is a freaking miracle! I amanaged to get those fifty pages, but it was work.
How about you guys? How is your writing stamina?
Also, this weekend, because a girl needs a break, I watched The Proposal. My feelings for Ryan Reynolds are out of control. It's not just his abs. Though, that's a big part of it. He's got the same twinkle as Harrison Ford. It's a really potent twinkle.
And finally, Sinead is off her rocker for publicly admitting she is excited about Clash of The Titans. Granted she had a few ciders, but honestly. Excited? Now, I have incredibly fond memories of the first movie (I went with the Zawislak's and Mrs. Z snuck in homemade popped popcorn in brown paper bags. I got scared about Medusa and Matt turned to me and said it was just a movie. Not making me any less scared, but making sure I kept my mouth shut about it.) And I too have a curiosity about Sam Worthington. But come on. Excited? Outside of some effects isn't this movie going to be a steamy pile of poo? Isn't Sinead wasting her few precious moments of entertainment?
Please, weigh in.
10 comments:
On the stamina thing - Molly, I'm stunned. You just put a name to one of my problems. I never thought of it that way. I spend all my writing life writing in one to two hour stretches. I have to move around a lot when I attempt longer ones - I thought I just had a short attention span!
I sort of want to see Clash of the Titans too. Sinead, let me know how it is.
Unless I'm REALLY under the gun, I need to stop and move around, too. Especially writing first drafts.
I think it's very hard, near to impossible, to keep up the kind of focus and energy required for being creative that many hours in a row. When I'm editing, I can sometimes go longer stretches, but I think it's because that kind of work is more varied. Sometimes just reading. Sometimes moving commas. Sometimes solving big problems. Sometimes writing some new stuff. Sometimes crying. Sometimes banging my head against the desk. Wait. I do those last two things during first drafts, too...
Re Proposal. Surprisingly watchable, I thought. Ryan Reynolds = Hot. Sandra Bullock = Likeable (even in a potentially unlikeable role) And I liked that both characters had a story arc and ones I believed--or as much as I needed to, anyway.
And so much realisim in that movie. Her character was EXACTLY like an editor, right? NOT. And all authors need to be talked into going on Oprah. We hate that. ;) And Betty White made a believable Native American totally. And I never knew that the Native peoples of Alaska had the same clothing and traditions as those in Nebraska. ;) I learned a lot. LOL (But movie was so much fun, I overlooked that stuff.)
Re Clash of the Titans. LOL. Not my kind of movie. But I know it's Sinead's kind of movie, so she can be excited about it, if I can be excited about... Um... Can't think of an upcoming movie I'm excited about right now. :) LOL.
Titans a movie I'd only go see if I had a night free, nothing else was playing, and Sinead had given it two thumbs up. Sinead is my reviewer of choice for action movies.
Turned into a sprinter, have you, Miss Molly?
Those long time spans are hard and I can't do them too often, but boy can they be productive!
Don't know what to say about Clash of the Titans. I guess I'll wait to see Sinead's review, too. :-)
I was excited about Clash, too. I am mad for Sam Worthington, though. We went opening night, something we NEVER do. It was good fun, no masterpiece, but fast-paced and enjoyable.
I could never do 50 pages in a weekend. 10 pages is a good day for me, and I can't do that consistently.
Not a waste... Thanks MJ for validating my reasons for wanting to go see it.. Enjoyable.. AKA fun.
In my few moments of leisure, I want fun and if I can add nostalgia to that, then done... I loved, loved the original, in all its cheesy glory, and I'm expecting the same from the new one..
Molly, congrats on getting your pages done. You have to feel pretty good about that.
I can't go twenty minutes it seems now without heating up the coffee, turning on the washing machine... something.
So a 2 hour stretch where I've gotten up about 4 or 5 times is all I can do. But too much typing = a bad neck thing-a-ma-jig that my PT person needs to work out. So I take the breaks. A decent day is 5 pages. A great day is 10. 50 pages in a weekend... I don't think I could do it.
As for Clash... I still have flashbacks of the headless Medussa - and I'm sure it's only going to be worse this time around. Remember how the bag was all bloody... oohhh.
Proposal - definitely cute. Ryan Reynolds is so watchable!
Man, it seems the crowd is going with Sinead...damn you Sam Worthington...damn you.
I usually write for 4 hours in the morning and then edit for 4 hours in the afternoon (when I have a full day for writing). After 4 hours, the creativity needed to write fresh isn't there. I'm forcing it. Kudos to folks that can do it (BIG kudos to Maureen).
Like The Proposal. Was there a convincing HEA? Well, no (do you really think she'll be happy with him long term?) but it was a fun HFN.
Looking forward to Titans also, mostly because I'm a mythology freak. Yeah, yeah, I know they're going to murder the myths but...
I can't write steadily for too long, either. I usually get up, do something or other, and mutter to myself a few times an hour. Eventually I hit a wall when I realize I'm staring into space and it's time to quit.
I am the last woman in the world who finds Ryan Reynolds not in the least attractive. More of him to go around for the rest of you.
And my hubby is also excited about Clash of the Titans, proving once again, like the horror movie thing, that he should have just hooked up with Sinead.
(How's that for a romance plot?)
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