Yesterday, I had written out this wonderful blog for my next post. It was about actually beginning the writing of your novel now that you have the game plan and main characters decided. However, Mother Nature had her own game plan....EARTHQUAKE!
Yes, yesterday, as most are aware at this point, there was an earthquake. I was working in DC and in a tall-rise building on the 9th floor. I had never gone through an earthquake before so at first I thought it was my boss shaking my wall as a practical joke, then I thought it was people moving furniture on the floor above me. Of course working in DC and being that it is close to the anniversary for 9/11, my next thought was "Oh no it is an explosion." I thought it was lasting a bit long for that though and slowly the idea started to seep in that I was in an earthquake...Oh my goodness this is an earthquake. Yes, I know, I think a lot in a matter of a minute and a half. The shaking finally stopped. I have been through tornadoes and hurricanes and flooding but never an earthquake.
I grabbed my purse, my cell phone and of course, since I am always cold, managed to also make sure I grabbed my sweater. Once I got outside it was quite a site to see all the buildings in the area being evacuated. It was like the biggest block party ever only everyone was a bit "shaken" (pardon the pun) and not quite sure what was happening. No one could get their cell phones to work. I finally got a call out to my sister after about half an hour. The whole office was safe though and we decided to evacuate the city.
Sounds like an easy enough task when you state it simply, "evacuate the city." Well, everyone in the DC/MD/VA area had the exact same plan. Someone I work with offered to drive me and two others from our office so that I didn't have to worry about the trains. Others got different rides and one woman did take the train home. Everyone had the adventure of being one of thousands heading in the same direction. Traffic was not what that was. It should have been called Chaos; it was a chaos of cars. At one point we saw that there had been an accident that blocked two of the four lanes and one of the people involved was in a wheelchair. It took me three hours but I made it to my son who instantly asked, "Mom did you feel the shaking? Wasn't that COOL!"
Needless to say, since I evacuated the building with only my purse, phone and sweater I did not have my writing with me. I didn't even have my journal. Well, the lesson for me is that sometimes things like earthquakes, illness or just life get in the way of your writing but to use that to your advantage. I took the time to think about what I wanted to write next and I even thought I could incorporate some of the drama into my writing. I am trying to take a bizarre yet eventful situation and the experiences I went through and put it into my writing. Well, ok that was the plan. What really happened? I used it as an excuse to take a night off and that is just what I did. Now, I am back and refreshed so sometimes when life does get in the way...or a very upset mother nature, it is also good to just relax and go with the flow.
I survived trembling Tuesday and now I am back for writing Wednesday.
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