On writing a book: Part 3

This is what I look like when I write.

Remember how I'm writing a book? (I know, it's so cliché.) Well, I feel like I learn volumes every time I sit down and write, so here are a few more brief lessons and things I'm noticing, just in case you're wondering.

• Sometimes I'm excited to write. I'm just feeling it and things are happening and life is good. Other times, it seems like everything is coming out sounding like a ten year old wrote it. Or I'm just tired of thinking about it and tired of making myself think about it. It's nights like these where you just have to surrender and, say, watch Ghost Dad in the name of research. (There's a little teaser for you—you'll have to guess how it's related to the book. Cryptic?) That way, you're still making some kind of "progress" on your book and you don't feel so guilty, even if no words were written.
• It's been interesting, learning the way that I write a book. It's almost like I have to learn over and over again that the book is not simply going to flow out of my brain with perfect ease and perfect prose and a pulitzer prize stamped on it. I hate learning that. But I'm realizing that I have to just get something down on the page—sometimes it's good and sometimes it needs work—and then I have let it sit for a while and then go back and make adjustments and additions and subtractions. I should have learned this from how I blog: I usually post something at night and then my brain goes to work while I'm unconscious, and I almost invariably make changes or additions the next morning. Have you noticed?
• Speaking of brains, brains are amazing. Mine even gives me ideas before I consciously try to think of them. It does so much work on overtime and totally doesn't get enough credit. Here's your shout out, brain. Thanks for all the good ideas. (But you're also to blame if this book bombs.)
• Once upon a time, Anna left a purple-glitter-filled bouncy ball on my desk, and it's been there for a couple months now. Almost unintentionally, it has become my thinking ball. When I am at a stopping point and need to think and find some direction before I move on, I grab the ball and give it a twirl (it's just so shiny and pretty) and maybe try out some cool David Bowie moves à la Labrynth. It totally works. And I'm not giving it back. 
• I feel like I've made pretty good progress, considering I started this whole thing not knowing what in the world I was doing. And I feel like my momentum is definitely increasing, as I now know what I'm actually writing about and what needs to happen. That's a nice feeling.
• But I'm starting to get just a tiny bit nervous that I only have three months left. I'm probably one-third or halfway finished. I can still do it, but wow.

So here's my progress report thus far, since my blog is apparently my accountability partner.

My book so far.
Pages: 73
Words: 20,780
Chapters: 8
References to a Tom Jones song * : 1 . . . so far
Times I use the phrase "sugarbum" * : 2, and maybe more to come

* the mark of a good book