And Awaaaay We Go.... (Home Alone Day #2)

This morning, I was at work just a little after 7 am. This is actually not as bad as it sounds because:

a) It's 38 degrees in Canberra today. My office is air conditioned, my house is not.
b) Getting here early means that I don't have to feel too bad about leaving here early (which I'll be doing very soon) and
c) Thanks to the motivational effect of my poll over there ---------------------------------------------------------------------->
I've been able to pull my finger out and have actually written the better part of 5000 words today! Woot!

This, of course, means that I don't get to hire a Porsche, unless there's a last minute run on the voting, but even so, it's a good result.

The best part is, I've been working on this new book in small dribs and drabs for about three months, but today I hit the point where I'm really starting to break inertia with it. By the time I stopped writing this afternoon, at just a shade under 9000 words, both the story and the writing were just flowing, and I know that when I sit down tomorrow morning and start again, they'll keep flowing.

And the story?

I don't want to say too much about it yet, in case I jinx myself, but I can tell you that it's fun. It's loaded with action, it's got a really nice suspenseful backstory a lot of which is revealing itself to me as I write (A new experience for me - I'm usually a meticulous planner), and it doesn't require a trip to Antarctica to research it. In fact, the sort of research required can largely be done by Googling things like 'fast cars' and 'big handguns' and 'breeds of pygmy iguana'

Actually, I've only had to google two of those three. You can decide which is the odd one out.

But it's nice, you know? To be writing something that hasn't been in my head forever, and which hasn't been hanging over my head, either. My last two big books were both contracted a long time before they were finished and it's really refreshing to be just writing for the spontaneous fun of it again. I'd forgotten what an important aspect of creative writing that is - to write for the adventure of it.

So thanks to all the people who took the final option on the poll and gave me a well needed kick in the bum. I appreciate it.

Of course, the poll is open for another day, and it's not too late to pick the Porsche, instead...