Not "Thinking" About Writing

I remember when I was four years old, and climbed up on a table in the basement, for whatever reason. The table toppled and I landed on my head. I spent the next few hours puking my guts up and screaming at my mom who woke me up every hour because she'd been instructed by the doctor (who made house calls back then) to NOT let me sleep more than an hour at a time.

I wonder if that's the reason I have trouble making decisions. For instance, I'll be in J.C. Penney and see three purses I like. Which one? Which one? I'll stare at them for fifteen minutes, then walk away without buying any of them. And God, don't get me started on the bra department, cuz you have to, you know, usually try those suckers on. I could spend six hours in the fitting room staring at my boobs. Not a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

I used to be this way with my writing. OK, three FABULOUS ideas...but which one do I work on?

I can't decide, I can't decide! So I'd end up working on nothing. But hey, I'm "thinking" about it--doesn't that count?

No. It's doesn't.

Happily, I've (recently) gotten over that. I've shelved Nikki for now (for reasons I can't explain) and had a brief moment of panic. If I don't work on Nikki, I have to work on something, right?

Let me think about this...

No, "thinking" about writing doesn't count anymore. Thinking about writing doesn't make you a writer. People who "think" about writing are a dime a dozen.

Writing makes you a writer. So I'm either going to:

1. Not write, and forget about being any kind of a writer

--or--

2. Stop thinking and be a writer

So I took the plunge and leaped back into my paranormal. Truthfully I've tinkered with it off and on (in rare moments of boredom) but only to tweak what I've already written. Yesterday, however, I hit a (new) coffee shop, parked myself there for three hours, and wrote 1200 new words in one sitting.

Yeah, it felt good. :)

38120 / 100000 words. 38% done!

What's strange is that this was originally a 2005 NaNo project. I'd hit the 50K mark, but somewhere along the line I guess I did some serious chopping. Still, not shabby.

I'm wrapping this thing up by the end of the year. And I'm announcing this here so six months from now when I'm whining or procrastinating or "thinking" too much, you can all send me some well-deserved cyber kicks-in-the-butt. ;)