Wading through sand

Sometimes, despite the excitement and the thoughts whirling in your mind, it's impossible to get it straight enough to write down. Today has been a case in point. Although the Word Shed, my new writing cabin, is not officially open, I tried writing in it yesterday on the new - to me - Macbook Pro. Sadly, because of the torrential rain, I couldn't find an internet connection and the noise of the water pounding on the roof was not exactly soothing. And it was a bit chilly, so I moved back indoors.

Enter Sir Galahad aka Paul, who moved the router in the house so that, hopefully, the signal will be easier to pick up in the cabin. I've been in here all morning. It is now mid afternoon and everything to do with the internet has gone swimmingly. Wish I could say the same for the writing.

I've always been one of those who ploughs straight through from beginning to end, not bothering to go back and edit, just with my eye on the last sentence. Because this book is still so young, I haven't swung into a proper rhythm with the plot yet. This is the wading through sand bit, because until this fluidity takes over, my brain can't play with bits of plot as I am writing and neither does the plot bypass my brain and go straight to the fingers - 'What on earth made me write that? Hang on, though, if...' and off we go.

For some writers, their fingers would slow and then stop. I won't do that. The only way to progress the plot is to keep my bum in the seat and my fingers dancing on the keys. Never mind if what I've written today is rubbish. It's 2000 words more than I wrote yesterday and somewhere in this morass, I'll find the strand of the story and begin to tease it out.

For the moment, having struggled to 2000 words, I am going to treat myself to a long hot shower and then go to my writers' group. We spend a lot of time laughing, but always manage to get in constructive criticism. There will be the usual mix of encouragement, cajoling and solid tips on how to progress. I always come away loving what I do and anxious to get back to the keyboard.

Let's hope that all produces another 2000 words tomorrow.