I've spent far too much time over the last two days in blogland! What an incredibly addictive waste of time. It seems that everyone has something to say, and blogging gives them (us) all a way in which to say it to the world. That's pretty cool. Of course it also appears that most people (myself included) do not really have anything to say that is of importance to the rest of the world. When it came right down to it, almost every blog I read was written by someone uninformed, depressed, angry, or just plain stupid. I could share the dozens of entries here, but this blog is already uninformed, depressed, angry and stupid so I’m reasonably sure anyone who reads it has already had their fill.

Bustling forward…

I hate the novel! Ms. Internal Editor desperately wants to rewrite; I keep telling her, “It’s not time!!!” She doesn’t listen very well, and sometimes she manages to wrangle out of the closet where I’ve tucked her humanely away in an appropriately sized kennel complete with scores of uninformed, depressed, angry stupid non spell/grammar checked blogs to keep her busy. She is a persistent one, but fortunately she is also easily distracted. The secret is to make coffee in an Italian caffettiera. It takes a bit more time than an automatic drip coffee maker (I hate it when I am forced to take a longer break. *grin*); Ms. Internal Editor gets bored with the intermission and returns to the blogs in the kennel; I get a really fabulous cup of coffee; everybody’s happy! Well, we’re all happy until she realizes my ruse, but by then it’s too late; I’m already well into another paragraph or chapter and it takes her a while to catch up by which time I need another cup of coffee. Oh, the things we put ourselves through in the name of art.

So is anyone, wondering why I go through so much effort to finish something that I claim to hate? Well, I wondered too until a few nights ago. I wrote just short of 4,000 words then I promptly lost them all. I hear you; you want to say, “Shame on you for not saving your work.” But I saved my work! I’ve been burned that way before, so I did as you do, and I saved it. Unfortunately this computer (I am using a fill-in machine as my laptop is in the shop) hiccupped. I closed the doc then I thought hmmm, I better figure out where I saved that so I can e-mail a copy to myself and have a backup in case this crap fill-in computer hiccups, but when I looked for it, it was gone. I spent an hour searching every inch of my 30 gig hard drive—nearly in tears, frustrated, angry, annoyed, discouraged. I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart—not with a sweet sharp blade, no—with a sticky dull butter knife! At about 4:00 a.m., I rebooted the computer in one of those final desperate efforts (which turned out to be more productive than the hammer I considered as a final desperate effort), and there it was hiding in a temporary file—a file I had searched several times before. Oh the joy—great joy in finding those 4,000 words I had so laboriously birthed in the hours before—I was elated! It did not matter how crap those 4,000 words might be. Even the internal editor thought them all lovely as she and I saved them in three different places on the hard drive and one e-mail tucked securely away on someone else’s server where it was bound to be relatively safe.

While at this point I realize that the novel is crap, it is a first draft, and I’ve produced a lot of crap first drafts—nothing new there. Also, it’s mine, and when I think about the time and effort I’ve put into it so far, and all I’ve had to go through to keep Ms. Internal Editor at bay, it would seem a shame not to at least give the vexing wench a crack at it when it’s finished.

In the end, should the novel warrant death, it would be disgraceful to give it less than the dramatic ending it deserves. Lost on a hard drive is not nearly as interesting as ceremonial burning—marshmallows anyone?

I wrote my comments on the last set of writings you provided for my enjoyment... Thank you;)

every blog I read was written by someone uninformed, depressed, angry, or just plain stupid.
EXCUSE ME FOR BREATHING! Oh exhaulted one.
I happen resemble most of those remarks but uninformed? I beg to differ. I have to tell you there is NO ONE more informed than I when it comes to lost sox. So there :P
I hope it's not too chilly upon your perch on high but if it is might I suggest a hotwater bottle. There that disproves another of your theories. Stupid? Who is stupid?
OBTW Did I mention I was English? That must account for your other two points then.
Cheerio old Bean
Funky

:):)

I can only say it is a good thing I found your post after I posted my post about how all posts are not good posts. You gave me hope that there may be a better way to blog, and certainly I can say, it sounds as though you have a tremendous amount of knowledge regarding lost socks. I am humbled in your presence.

OK, So we are agreed then? When it comes t sox and all things socky, the I am d man.
That's OK then. I will have to agree with most of your other comments then! BLAST IT!!! I hate having to agree with people on a Sunday evening. Byeeeeee :)

I'll try to catch you on Saturday evening next time. ;-)

Ah, so YOU'RE my evil twin Thanks for the comment on my blog. As for the vicious internal editor, I have one too.. she's such a bitch . Blog on, blog on.

Finally I get to be someone's evil something

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