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Sunday, November 13, 2005

As Unaccustomed as I am to Public Speaking...

I think I did okay yesterday. My brain kind of went to mush once I was introduced, and I circled around what I wanted to say a couple of times so that it took a while to actually get there, but overall I think I didn't embarrass myself as I spoke to my local chapter about Through a Crimson Veil. There were a bunch of people there, hurrah! And they asked questions, double hurrah! Several people said I was interesting, so I can only hope that they were being truthful and not just nice.

After that was the business meeting and then we had our program on using Tarot with writing presented by Stephanie Lynch. That was really interesting, and she's giving a class in December that I'd like to take. She also brought some really cool tarot decks, and while I swear I don't want to collect them, I have somewhere around half a dozen different decks--maybe more. But different decks feel better on different days. Yesterday I grabbed the dragon tarot deck, and it was the wrong one. I knew that, but I was running late and didn't have time to go through my pouches to see what other deck I wanted to use. I also have some other cards that aren't tarot, and I worried if I just grabbed a pack, I'd get one of those. Anyway, some fun and interesting spreads and definitely a tool to use when stuck.

After the meeting was a published author lunch/meeting. I didn't even recognize about half the people there, so I don't know if it's because I don't go to meetings often or they don't go to meetings often or both. They're saying that they want to get me involved with stuff, and I'm like, OMG, I'm already drowning just trying to work full time and write. I can't handle anymore on top of that. I'm a slow writer. Too slow.

By the time I got home, it was getting close to 3pm and I was just exhausted. Still, determined to write, I pulled up the file--and stared at it for 4 hours without getting a single word written. I didn't even have a clue which direction to turn. I think I had reached my limit after being so sick on Friday. So I went to bed somewhere around 9pm and slept for another 12 hours. This morning I had coffee! Coffee is the sign of wellness. If I don't want coffee, I'm definitely sick. If I'm craving coffee again, I'm on the mend. Yes, I have a small little addiction here, but I only drink one cup a day.

Now that I'm back on the caffeine, hopefully I'll get some major writing done today. I need to. I should have been done with the first draft already, but getting sick twice in slightly over a month really hosed me up.