I left home around noon today wearing my "writer" hat and carrying my Alphasmart over my shoulder, and drove straight to the Harmony Cafe at the swanky new Goodwill on West Mason St. just a few blocks from home. I ordered a cup of herbal tea and claimed a table in the back of the not-very-crowded room. I should have known better. I got Alphie out, squared up my cap and started to write. Hordes of people, women mostly, came stampeding in ordering girly half-sandwich and a dainty cup of pasta salad lunches then they sat all around me chattering like a bunch of magpies. Could I ignore them? Of course not. Afflicted as I am with an inability to resist eavesdropping, I watched them and listened to their prattle while trying to focus on my story. I stood it as long as I could before I folded up my writing stuff, went next door to buy a few books (half price, people!) and then left about 1:45.
I drove straight to Atlanta Bread Company (two whole blocks) where I ordered a sandwich and bottle of water. I lucked out and got the booth in the front corner of the cafe away from the hubbub of the counter and other diners. A married couple in their 30s sat in the booth next to mine and he proceeded to spend their entire lunch talking about how he's trying to be the best stay-at-home dad for their daughter but he needs her support or maybe just an hour to himself once in a while (man, was I having flashbacks!). Well, I couldn't not listen. I did write, I did, but it was hard to focus. After I ate my lunch and got a cookie for dessert (I was being good) I wrote some more until I thought I had exhausted that tangent.
I packed up again at 3:00 and drove to the other end of the block to Starbucks. There I ordered herbal tea (which wasn't very good--Tazo Wild Orange, I think) and tucked myself into a corner. Again people came in and had conversations, 3 guys who looked Somalian or Ethiopian came in and they were having a conversation in their native tongue and I couldn't not listen to them even though I understood not one word. But I kept my fingers moving, determined to forge ahead of the minimum daily word requirement and maybe give myself a little cushion for later when things turn to crap.
Around 4:30 I zipped to Woodman's to get my favorite Sabor Latino yogurt and 2 bottles of Moose Drool and came home. I hurried to download my day's writing, confident that I had surpassed the daily quota and zoomed ahead. Download... download... download... click the "word count" button........1656! Eleven words short!!! $#%&@
So after supper I went back to my desk and wrote again and made it. But I learned that I am not good at writing in cafes. Not once did I think to turn my back on the room so that I wouldn't be distracted. I need to write in a sensory deprivation chamber. When I'm at my desk I have the door closed and I listen to classical music on headphones (okay, they're earbuds) so that if Don turns on the TV I can't hear it and I can't hear his breathing and I can't hear him turning the pages if he's reading. I am such a trial to myself.
Line of the day: Bunny kept telling himself that he did not know, had never imagined what Manning was planning. He could not keep images of himself in chains locked in a cell with a tall, fire breathing, police officer bending over him accusing him of murder. Murder, murder, it kept echoing in his head. The startled look on Jack Spencer’s face when he felt the hand on his ankle, the disbelief when he was jerked backwards and sent tumbling in space. Bunny had stepped forward involuntarily to watch Jack’s windmilling body fall onto the razor sharp rocks and he saw the bright red blood bloom green in the water like sad flowers.
Daily word count: 2,036 words
Running total: 15,548 words
I'm just over 500 words ahead of the pace. Woohoo! I deserve a sundae!
--Barbara
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