Good on Paper

Currently buried under: training for online teaching at University of Phoenix

I fell yesterday on my way to teach class (while wearing my grown up high heels) and a boy laughed at me and just walked by. Yup, that’s the kind of week I’m having.

Did I write today? No. Not unless you count the discussion questions for my online teacher training or the comments on my student’s papers. I guess I could have woken up early and made time, but I could barely remember what day it was when I woke up. And yes, I could stay up tonight (after Grey’s Anatomy) and write, but I’m still knee deep in student papers.

I can see my character, that neurotic and lovable narrator from fourteen pages of chapter 1, and she’s waving goodbye. She’s standing on a pier in a sundress shielding her eyes from the glare…and she looks sad. But not surprised.

“Wait, Jolene,” I cry (a placeholder name because I adore Dolly Parton lately). “Don’t leave yet. I just need a day off and then we can hang out again.”

Fat chance.  It’s funny that I can not talk to a friend in weeks (or sometimes months) and know that we’ll be cool. We’ll fall right back into a routine of sharing silly stories and trading crude jokes. But characters are so temperamental. They’re needy in that almost charming way. As the great Annie Dillard says “If you skip a visit or two a work in progress will turn on you.”

Any suggestions for managing one’s time better?