I needed last Friday to be a great writing day. I knew exactly where to start. I was going to get up early, make my meals for the day, and write Pomodoro style all the way through to evening. I’d ignore social media. Wouldn’t even read the news.
Just a quick peek at the headlines to make sure the world wasn’t ending and then…holy hell, how was it two PM? Because, of course, history making news days are never really convenient to one’s writing schedule.
By two-thirty, frayed and bleary-eyed, I felt like I’d read the entire internet. Surely my writing day was toast. But I also recognized that I needed a break from news updates. There was a new season of Broadchurch up. I’d been saving it for the end of my project, but I decided to let myself watch twenty minutes.
One of the things I love about Broadchurch is its narrow focus. The small town. The lives of a few families. The setting, the mood, the music, the careful words. Every element carries weight, and watching felt like satisfying a gnawing hunger with exact food I’d been craving. Once my mind had been drawn away from the entire internet to something small and beautiful, I was ready to write. [Read more…]
