I am lying on my bed, glaring with frustration at the exuberant storm thundering overhead. I am frustrated, because I cannot write.
For months, I have been unable to set aside sufficient time to work on the novel I plan to finish yesterday. There have been several important things that needed doing, and I could never justify neglecting them.
January and February passed, and I gazed longingly at my story files, and sadly turned to more pressing matters.
By March however, I couldn’t handle it anymore. I was becoming irritable and restless. It had reached the stage where I realised that I needed to write, or all the other things I had to do would be affected. I had to write, or I would be a worse person, a worse mother, a worse employee.
There still wasn’t enough time though, so I snatched minutes here and there. I jotted down ideas in my school diary while classes were filing into the hall for assembly. I dived out the shower and scribbled a few lines on the back of a till slip before I forgot the thought. I put my morning routine out of sync because I was planning the intricacies of a fight scene instead of making breakfast. (the complicated nature of the fight scene made multi-tasking impossible)
Eventually after a few weeks, I gathered all my scraps of paper and set aside a Saturday evening to put it onto my computer. I had only typed a few lines when I heard the ominous rumble of thunder.
I have known several friends who have had their desktops fried in thunderstorms, so I wasn’t going to take any chances. I switched everything off, pulled the plug out of the wall and stretched out on the bed to sigh over lost opportunities.
So here I lie, not wanting to think of my novel, because then there will be more bits of paper to add to the pile I already have to deal with.
The world around me is quiet… I strain my ears and hear no sign of the storm. It is over! As I sit up to slot the plug into the wall socket, the thunder rumbles again, like a giant hungry tummy that can’t be satisfied.
And so I start to write this blog. Despite the storm, I have still found something to write. Now I just have to put this piece of paper where I’m going to find it again!