about this…

I should be writing The Novel – a chick lit superhero dual narrative bonanza of high heels, tights and caped capers.  So far: 6 months, half a plot, and the same three and a bit chapters re-drafted oooh, a hundred or so times… and a lot of ebay shoes purchased.

This blog is a journal of what I am doing when I am not writing (or buying shoes).

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My first post… (or a day in the life of an unwriter)

should probably be about the picture at the top of the page – a summation of the greatest achievement in my procrastinating history.  The time: some mid point in my second year of university,  when two years of academic study had honed my skills to their very peak of apathy and avoidance.  The task: produce one 1,500 word story about something I have forgotten.  What follows is a reconstruction based on true-life events…

09:00  Wake up, look at clock, register the unusually early hour – think “ah, so this is the 9am they speak of” – remember I am after all a respectable student, and resume my slumber for another three hours.

13:00 Having extricated myself from bed, sit on sofa and muse, for some time…. (loose definition of musing may include the following: watching multiple episodes of Scrubs or other american-lite-entertainment, drinking many cups of tea, browsing the internet, buying shoes on ebay, sleeping, n.b. this list is by no means exhaustive).

15:00 (approx.) decide it is time I really got started – make good start by arranging all possible necessary stationery, reference texts, sweets (to maintain energy levels), in pretty order.

16:00 Type the first line. Become irritated by the slightly loose wire at the back fo my keyboard. Decide to ignore it and focus on the task at hand.

16:06 Decide that wire cannot be ignored; dealing with it now will undoubtedly save valuable time later.  Probably only needs small tinker with anyway.  Twiddle wire about a bit, to no avail.  Look for screwdriver.

16:15 Involve housemate (also avoiding writing) in screwdriver hunt…

16:30 Have assembled array of tools. Housemate and I survey damaged wire and determine that it can be easily fixed if we can remove back of keyboard.  Turn keyboard over to reveal that it is held together by roughly a thousand tiny screws.  We hold firm.  We begin unscrewing.

17:00 Victory is ours. The keyboard’s innards are dispalyed to the world.  Just a few tiny adjustments and all will be well.  Congratulate ourselves on being modern technologically minded women who can handle a screwdriver….

17:20 Hold wire in hand.  Look at place where wire used to be connected to keyboard.  Discuss whether or not this is an improvement.

17:30 Discover keys are not in any way attached to the board but will spill all over living room carpet if keyboard is suddenly tipped over.

17:40 Collect most of keys and resolve to sort them out later after wire problem is resolved.

17:45 Attempt ambitious soldering with matches, nail varnish and paper clip.

17:50 Abandon soldering.  Too ambitous.  Open windows to try and get rid of burny smell.

18:00 Consider keyboard, which is now more fragments than composite unit – wire stripped and unattached to anything, keys in large pile on coffee table (and possibly few inside sofa), board itself split into two halves, screws largely lost.

18:15 Order new keyboard on ebay.  Gather bits of keyboard, hide in back of wardrobe, and resolve not to speak of this to other housemates.

18:30 Watch some more ameri-comedy to soothe self.

………

01:00 following morning, or thereabouts – decide to really get started on essay now.

 

And that, in essence, is a definition of unwriting.