Orderly writing

Daily Goal: 500 words.
Yesterday I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories Finished: 3/0.

Today has been busy, as most are. My wife went to see a friend so I put the baby to sleep. We also made an effort, my wife and I, to clean the living room and although we have some way to go, it feels good to be writing this in a clean enviroment.

I need that when I write. Quiet and order, a clean room, the coffee made, the desk free of clutter, nothing waiting - like the dishes. I can still write without all those things, so I guess 'need' is not the correct term. I wrote my master's thesis without all that. What I mean is I need everything in order if I am to enjoy writing. My days, as they are now, don't offer much order and quiet, so I don't particularily enjoy writing.

Perhaps the rant above is just another excuse. I probably spend more time finding excuses for not writing, than I do writing. I love to read, currently. I crave it. I think that it is yet another ploy to keep from staring at that empty page.

I have thought about giving longhand a chance. Perhaps I should get myself a legal pad and a pen and just leave the house for an evening or two each week. I wonder what place I can go to? I could just take a bus. To the end station and back. Perhaps I'll try that soon.

Tomorrow I have plans. My brother is leaving again and I need to see him so I can pick up the keys to my parent's apartment. I meant to make plans to see him before he left. Really see him, I mean, like go out to see a movie, not just pick up keys. The days were just filled up, however, and I never got around to it.

Reading Gene Wolfe instead of writing

Daily Goal: 500 words.
Yesterday I wrote 0 words.
Sundays/Stories finished: 2/0.

I had a busy day again today. My brother came back from Thailand, where he has been at a kickboxing camp (I write kickboxing, because I would probably misspell, Muy Thai, is it?), and me, my wife, with baby in tow, went to see him settled in. He is going to stay in Denmark for a few days, so perhaps we can catch a movie before he leaves.

Anyway, there hasn't been much time for writing. If I really wanted to, I could have spent perhaps an hour or so writing, but I spent it reading instead. The novel I am currently reading, I am on the last few chapters, is Sword of the Lictor, by Gene Wolfe. It is the third novel in his series called the Book of the New Sun. I have heard (read rather) great things about Gene Wolfe, but I have to confess that I have been a little disappointed until now. The first two novels of the series, The Shadow of the Torturer and Claw of the Conciliator, did not sweep me of my feet. Don't get me wrong, they are entertaining books, well written, set in an interesting universe, with a great protagonist. I wouldn't consider them candidates from the greates living English writer, however. The Sword of the Lictor, on the other hand, does enter into another level of quality. I'll tell you what I think when I finish the series.

It is late here, so I will sign off for now. I also want to finish the novel before I go to sleep and it is already too late.