Parking on a Hill

The Maven of Clam Harbour gave me a great piece of advice by way of telling a story a few weeks ago. We were talking about how hard I sometimes find it to get going on my work in the morning. She told me the story of a guy whose clutch didn't work in his car. He couldn't get the car started in first. So he had to make sure when he parked it at night, the car was on the crest of a hill. That way, he could put the car in neutral and slip into gear as the car rolled down the hill.

So I do the same thing with writing now. If I'm working on something that I know I can finish at night, I leave the last little bit to conclude in the morning. I usually know exactly what I want to do in that last little bit. And it means I don't have to start writing a new section or a new idea first thing in the morning. I can shift into gear just by rolling down the hill. It works like a charm. I've written 20 pages in the last three days! Yes, it's draftwork that will need some revision, but I'll take it.