I’ve had a stuck day. Like my head is elsewhere and my body is moving around without it, no imagination, no ability to put a coherent word next to another coherent word. I suspect this might have something to do with the ibuprofen PM I took before going to bed last night. Well, not before going to bed — before going to sleep, after an hour or so of lying awake.
I’ve been eating more sugar than I should — fresh peaches, bananas, and these yummy gluten-free cookies. End result: joint inflammation. I would still totally eat more of those cookies if I hadn’t finished the box yesterday. But interestingly, I found it very easy to resist the peaches. Why is the unhealthy food so much more tempting? Anyway, sugar leads to joint pain, which led to an over-the-counter sleeping aid, which led to a very groggy day.
My progress on the current chapter I’m working on, in sum total, consists of: “Noah settled into Tassamara as seamlessly as if he’d lived there forever.”
Next line should be… something? Anything? It’s an area that I’ve had trouble with before, narrative something-or-other. Basically making time pass. The next interesting thing to happen is when Akira and Zane get back from their honeymoon, so basically I want to skip ahead to that, but you know, it requires something more than… huh.
I could just skip ahead.
I could leave a note to myself in the file, along the lines of (Write Something Here) and write the part that’s more interesting. And maybe when I come back I’ll know more about what happens in that time period or else I’ll have a better idea of how to skip ahead.
*sigh
This idea is ridiculously obvious, but I have spent four hours sitting in front of this damn computer waiting for inspiration to strike and getting nowhere. I really need to remember somehow that inspiration strikes more readily when the fingers are moving. But now I need to go write Akira and Zane getting home from their honeymoon, and that makes me feel surprisingly cheerful, given how much of a miserable grind this day has felt like.
Writing Akira is always fun, though. One of my closest friends told me that I am more like Sylvie than I am like Akira, which might be one of those times when someone else sees you better than you see yourself, but writing Akira is easy because she just does and says and feels whatever I would do/say/feel in the same situation. I enjoy writing characters that I don’t have much in common with, but when the going gets hard, it’s nice to write someone who flows by instinct. Fingers crossed that she will do so for me now, because I’d really, really like to get some words written today!
Does Noah want to have a relationship with Grace? Where’s Grace’s father? I didn’t know fruit/sugar affected your joints. Is this true for everyone or just your personal reaction to it? I have Fibromyalgia and chronic pain so this would be good to know. Thanks!!!
The AIP diet is an elimination diet: you cut basically everything out of your diet for a while and then slowly start bringing things back to see what your reactions are. A friend encouraged me to try it because I’ve got several of the chronic health issues that it treats. In my case, my “arthritis” pain almost completely disappears if I eliminate sugar, including fruits, honey, etc., and nightshades, which are tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and potatoes. The hypothyroid symptoms of low energy, brain fog, general malaise go away when I eliminate gluten, soy, legumes, and corn. My chronic congestion and some gastro stuff are tied to dairy and nuts. And alcohol is bad news for everything, as far as I can tell, but especially my depression symptoms. The good news is that coffee and eggs don’t seem to cause me any problems, so at least I have them back. I’ve been eating a lot of eggs, though, so maybe I’m pushing it there, too. But it’s definitely worth trying the AIP diet — the first thirty days is really hard but even if you can’t stick to the food restrictions forever, it’s at least good to know how foods affect you. Some of the foods that I thought would be impossible to give up — pizza, for example — are pretty easy to go without now that I know exactly how sick it makes me.
I always love reading Akira and now I know why. I enjoy reading all your characters, though.
I hate it when I make things more complicated than they need to be. Glad you came unstuck.