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January 04, 2005
Not on a roll, yet. Progress, nonetheless.
I spent a little over five hours yesterday in my local cafe, writing.
The end product was four pages of a scene inspired by a late-night desire for a burrito. I'm back at the cafe in the same seat now, but I've yet to take up where I left off. I haven't even read yesterday's product yet -- I'm reluctant, for fear that it sucks that much.
As She thoughtfully reminded me yesterday, writing is like any other sort of conditioning; the more you do, the easier it gets. When I first stood on an elliptical last year, I could only hack 15 minutes on low resistance. Now, I can motor for an hour at a time on a steep incline, once burning a personal best of 1072 calories. I'll admit taking pleasure in watching those more svelt than I peep surreptitously at my machine's display before nudging up their own levels.
Yesterday, I'd write fitfully for a half hour at a time, only to get distracted with Web surfing, email and briefly playing a war sim. Most of the people in the coffeeshop belonged to the underemployed class I find throughout San Francisco. Folks who work only as much as they have to, essentially. I've never lived anywhere with so many adults who have so much free time in the middle of their days, said the pot, snarkily referring to the kettle.
I kept an eye on the woman next to me; she was making progress revising a presentation. The guy across from me was licensing digital music online and emailed his partner proudly with a list of all the tracks he'd purchased for a video before closing his laptop and striding off proudly. Everyone seemed to be making progress but me.
So, I read "Desiderata" again to myself just now to see if that might help. Interesting poem, and I'm not big on inpirational texts. I'm only familiar with it because acid-jazzers Mother Earth rap it over one of their tracks.
My favorite part:
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Wise words from an Indiana lawyer. I particularly like, "avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit." Sorta like the guy plugging in his laptop next to mine who smells like last night's cigars. Christ, I hope that's a cigar smell.
So, I'll log this entry, and will crack open yesterday's work, to see what's there. I think I'm better off pushing through to finish the scene before going back and revising it. Then again, I may decide to leave the patient on the table after the first draft, if it doesn't show promise.
Dammit buddy, couldn't you have showered before coming to the cafe?
I mean, you're sitting right next to me, man! Observe the social contract. Gack. And now, you're bouncing your legs up and down. That and the smell aren't at all distracting. Pray, continue. You're only creeping me the fuck out. (Stinky Tweaker just went to the restroom, so maybe I can wrap this up before he jitterbugs back to his seat.)
One last bit: I'm going to see "O Lucky Man" this evening, and hope to blog about it later. The movie made quite an impression on me when I was in high school, and I'm looking forward to seeing if it still passes muster. I even used the title song for one of my yearbook quotes, senior year:
"Takers and fakers and talkers won't tell you.
Teachers and preachers will just buy and sell you.
When no one can tempt you with heaven or hell-
You'll be a lucky man!"
I was an earnest young fellow back then.
Posted by Your Protagonist at January 4, 2005 12:39 PM