Write or Die

I love Write or Die.

And not just because it reminds me of Eddie Izzard’s hilarious "Cake or Death?" routine.

I’ve been a little stalled on my magic cupcake V-day love book.

I tend to write best at night. Late at night, after 10 p.m. usually. I focus better then. Less brain static. But I’ve been trying to get up and go to the gym most mornings at 7 a.m., and if I stay up writing until 2, that doesn’t happen. I can function pretty well on five hours of sleep and lots of tea, but the gym is out, and after a few days I’m a little more zombified than I’d like. Also, I keep reading these pesky articles that insist 7 hours is really optimal for good health and losing weight blahblahblah. Stupid science.

When I try to write on weekend afternoons or in the early evenings, I get distracted. Even if I turn off the evil internets, I write a few sentences and then go back and chew over them and polish them up. Or I stop to do research: DC curfew hours for teenagers, ingredients for vanilla cupcakes, brunch menu at Matchbox, Beatles album titles. It’s frustrating because Emma has a pretty specific voice and when I stop and start, it’s easy to lose it.

Write or Die does not let me squander my forward momentum. It makes me keep going, getting those words and ideas out, knowing I will polish them tomorrow. I always polish them tomorrow anyway; I always start writing by editing whatever I wrote yesterday.

I have to love anything that basically kicks my inner procrastinator/perfectionist’s ass.

And now, after a gorgeous day of vacation, thanks to my Catholic employer and Write or Die, I have 10,000 words (3500 of them all shiny and new) and a working title of Cupcake Cupid.