Looking Like a Right Charlie

If I'm banging on about the school holidays a lot at the moment, it's only because having the kids on site 24/7 has meant no time to myself to do ... well, anything much. Writing's gone completely out the window, but as we head into the third week my wife took pity on me and arranged to drive the kids out to see their grandmother this afternoon. For the first time in days, I was going to have a couple of hours to work on some stories.

And therein lies a problem.


Anyone who's seen the truly superb film Adaptation will doubtless remember the scene where writer Charlie Kaufman (as played by Nicolas Cage) sits down and attempts to apply himself to his new script. Minutes tick by as he muses about getting a drink or a muffin or any number of other things before he can get himself comfortable enough to actually start writing - and all the while, no actual work's getting done.

Not knowing too much about how other writers work, I can't say for certain that the scene would have rung any bells for anyone else. For me, it was like a campanologists' convention. At the very least, I've got to have coffee to hand, if not munchies too. Then the mere fact that I'm sitting in front of the computer leads to an urge to surf the Net, just for a bit.

And an hour's gone.

With only two hours to play with today, I'd have to go from 0-60 in seconds rather than minutes if I wanted to get anything done.

Reckon I got up to about 35. Did it in fits and starts, but finally squeezed out an outline for a short story - enough to recognise where the real work's going to need doing, anyway. When my time's my own again (round about the middle of next week), that'll give me a good head start.

Now then ... time for some beer.

And maybe some crisps.