Not a good day is some aspects, but good in others. I’ll get the bad stuff out the way first.
I visited the chippy for dinner for the second night in a row. This time I got a Black Pudding supper and a can of Irn-Bru. It was ok, but I felt sick with grease and guilt afterwards. I‘ve probably put on a couple of pounds because of it – well, that and the second 150g bar of chocolate I ate in the afternoon while working in my office.
I know, I know, It’s disgusting and I’m utterly ashamed of myself. But then, this is the week I couple actual physical training with the diet I’ve been on, so I reckon I’ll burn it off soon enough. It’s the first real failure of will I’ve suffered, but once in three months after losing over a stone isn’t the worst thing in the world.
On the good side, I wrote the first chapter of the new Jackie McCann novel in my head while standing at the top of Calton Hill for the second day in a row. The general premise for the book has been in my head all along, but I’ve been unable to find the spice that I needed to make it work. And today it came to me as I looked out over Edinburgh, pretending to be Jackie himself.
It was a late decision to go up the hill. I had gone for a walk around noon and found myself on a bus going up Leith Walk, when I just thought, “bugger it; it’s not a bad day – what the hell!” So off I went.
I must have stood on the east viewpoint – precisely the same point I stood with Laura the day before – for about half an hour. This time, though, without the distractions of a kid nattering constantly in my ear, I heard the start of the book unfold in my mind’s ear. Before I knew it, I was standing amongst the characters, the idea no longer merely an idea, the story growing inside me. And once that happens, I guess it’s only a matter of time.
I couldn’t start writing it today as I have two deadlines for tomorrow that I am now struggling to meet. I have to complete the three drug rehab articles AND have the editing of an e-book done for one of my editors. I may have to ask for an extra 24 hours on that one.
I made things worse by listening to the recording of one of the regular afternoon plays on the BBC Radio 4 website, and updating my blogs to WordPress 2.5; a fancy new-look release that does much of the same, though I’ve yet to really use it. I’m getting in the mood for writing a play, I just don’t know what about yet. Funny that Script Frenzy starts tomorrow but I’m not doing it. I tried that last year without much of an idea and it only wasted my time. Once I have a solid idea – if I ever do – I’ll tackle it then.
With time ticking on, and probably because of the clocks going forward last night, it was later than I realised when dusk came. It had passed 8pm, and so that’s when I went out to grab dinner. The less said about that the better.
By the time I had done some more of the editing on the book and the articles, I was too tired to concentrate on much else. They are getting there, it’s just I’m not as far on as I wanted to be. So I went to bed and watched a film: Cube – most strange but enough to divert my mind elsewhere for 90 minutes.
Freedom from the Mundane 