Two things that don’t go well together
Uh oh. College basketball has begun.
I’m thrilled, of course. Despite the fact that college football season is far from over, just last week I got the yearning for late nights in the gym, the squeak of sneakers on the court, and the raucous chanting and bouncing of student sections. The end of daylight savings time always does that to me; there’s something about earlier nights that turns my interest to round ball. However, college basketball wreaks havoc on my writing.
Last night I began revising (for the third time) the long personal essay I’ve been working on all year. Even with all the rewriting I’ve done, I’m still not satisfied — it still needs a lot of work. Revising the first section was slow going, but I got it done. Tonight I started into the second section, but gave up after an hour because I was hopelessly distracted. Why? Murray State and Cal are playing on ESPNU.
Frankly, the game isn’t so distracting that I’m completely unproductive. (1) It’s Murray State and Cal; I have no rooting interest in either team. (2) I’m writing this and there’s still seven minutes left in the game. Truth be told, I was making progress — turtle-like process — so it’s not impossible to revise and watch a little ball. But I’m just being incredibly lazy. Plus, I wasn’t feeling it tonight. It’s one of those “one true sentence” nights, when all I have in me literarily is one or two paragraphs. It’s pathetic, really, especially when you consider I spend an entire two hours at the keyboard.
(It’s worth mentioning that this revision will be drastic, diabolical, and I’m a little anxious and intimidated by what I’m planning to do. About 15 pages are going. With the swift stroke of the delete key, not only do I tighten, strengthen, and craft, but I erase entire nights of work. It needs to be done. Although fruitful writing-wise, those night didn’t produce much substance-wise, but I still can’t help lament the loss of entire nights of my ongoing struggle to put words together.)
What can I say? Some nights you have it, and some nights college basketball is on TV.
I’m thrilled, of course. Despite the fact that college football season is far from over, just last week I got the yearning for late nights in the gym, the squeak of sneakers on the court, and the raucous chanting and bouncing of student sections. The end of daylight savings time always does that to me; there’s something about earlier nights that turns my interest to round ball. However, college basketball wreaks havoc on my writing.
Last night I began revising (for the third time) the long personal essay I’ve been working on all year. Even with all the rewriting I’ve done, I’m still not satisfied — it still needs a lot of work. Revising the first section was slow going, but I got it done. Tonight I started into the second section, but gave up after an hour because I was hopelessly distracted. Why? Murray State and Cal are playing on ESPNU.
Frankly, the game isn’t so distracting that I’m completely unproductive. (1) It’s Murray State and Cal; I have no rooting interest in either team. (2) I’m writing this and there’s still seven minutes left in the game. Truth be told, I was making progress — turtle-like process — so it’s not impossible to revise and watch a little ball. But I’m just being incredibly lazy. Plus, I wasn’t feeling it tonight. It’s one of those “one true sentence” nights, when all I have in me literarily is one or two paragraphs. It’s pathetic, really, especially when you consider I spend an entire two hours at the keyboard.
(It’s worth mentioning that this revision will be drastic, diabolical, and I’m a little anxious and intimidated by what I’m planning to do. About 15 pages are going. With the swift stroke of the delete key, not only do I tighten, strengthen, and craft, but I erase entire nights of work. It needs to be done. Although fruitful writing-wise, those night didn’t produce much substance-wise, but I still can’t help lament the loss of entire nights of my ongoing struggle to put words together.)
What can I say? Some nights you have it, and some nights college basketball is on TV.
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