Day Four of NaNoWriMo

Day one I wrote about 2000 words. Day two I wrote about 2000 words.

Last night I worked on the article for Broker Magazine a little, wrote half my column and worked on the book. Around eight o clock I couldn't do anything anymore. I felt the way I did when I quit my novel last year, sick and headachey and most of all like my brain was sprained. It was like I forgot how to write or even think. Like my head was filled with rusty gears that would no longer turn. Like my head was so full of ideas and words that they were keeping the gears from turning. The words were so scattered that they were no use at all. So I picked up the phone and called my friend A.

He didn't pick up but then he called me back five seconds later. He'd been about to call me when I called him. He was in an extremely good mood and we immediately started talking about something we'd been discussing via email and as we talked I could feel the machinery starting to work again and the sick feeling fading and everything starting to feel all right. By the time he said he had to go I was feeling good and laughing like mad.

"Wait," I said. "My writing is stuck."

"What do you need? Character name? How to kill someone off? Need to get rid of a body?" he sounded like he was ready to go on for hours.

"No, I forgot how to write."

He snorted at me. "The words will come, they always do, just write damn it!"

And I went back to my column and wrote another 450 words, finishing up around nine and then I wrote 1100 words of the novel, for a total of 5100 words. That was an extremely cool experience.

Now I feel that way again so I'm taking a little break and letting the words settle down.

I've got to get that article done by Tuesday morning I think and then start my column for next week. It's a bit like being on an amusement park ride that you're not sure you like and you can't quite see where it ends.