Dilemmas

Well, here we go.

My house is mostly clean right now. Just doing some laundry. No big effort there. The accounting is all caught up for the day. I managed to feed the kids and sit down for a few quiet moments at the laptop. I have read through all the blogs I follow, left some comments, learned some things. Now, I'm ready to write.

I sit at the kitchen table. This is one of the few places in the house where I can still keep one eye on the kids, but they can't help me with the keyboard. (Unless an extra chair just happens to be next to the table. They'll climb up on that and try to see what I'm doing.) I open the document. And stare at it. And just keep staring at it. Wow. Where do I even start?

I've gotten some pretty good feedback on the first draft. The story is going in a good direction. It seems like it's just minor things that would make it sing for most of the people who have looked at it so far. Logistical things like "you kick a horse to make it go, not shake the reins." But, I'm not satisfied with making minor changes. I read these stories of the journey that people take to finish a book and think, "I'm not making nearly the same effort." I joke about having written the perfect (or nearly perfect, considering the reins issue) first draft, but I just can't believe that's really true. And I have no idea where to go with it right now.

So, I'm just staring. I know I'll get to it at some point today. I'll write a few words. I'll clear up the writing, tighten it up, show more instead of telling. And it will be great and I will feel satisfied having done something. Just this moment, however, I feel stuck.

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Inspiration just struck! Got to get cracking!