Six hours is a long time to be on a plane. I suppose I could do the usual things to pass the time, such as watch movies, but I’m not really a movie person. Also, six uninterrupted hours is a rare thing in life. I like to take advantage of it if I can, even if the accommodations are uncomfortable.
And yet, four hours into this six hour flight, I keep hoping for the minutes to go faster. I brought a book to read. I read the book. It was 200 pages so I thought it would take four hours, but it did not. It took 2.5 hours. I spent an hour working on podcast notes. I read Martha Stewart Living, which provided some nice fodder for an upcoming episode (on birthday parties. Stewart planned something elaborate for grandchildren Truman and Jude… of course. Are Truman and Jude going to resent that they never get paintball and pizza?)
Now…this blog post. As I think about it, what I should probably do with the extra time — other than purchase a glass of wine and pay for internet access — is read through the very (very!) rough draft of a novella that I have been writing in my daily 500 word spurts over the past 6 weeks. Who knows, perhaps I’ll find flashes of brilliance. Or maybe I’ll see that I’ll be able to repurpose it someday. The characters that populate Juliet’s School of Possibilities (my fable, coming in February 2019) began their literary lives in a slightly different form in a National Novel Writing Month attempt (50k words in November).
Nothing is truly irredeemable.
Except possibly this plane flight. Can we land yet?
Note: posted upon landing. I did not pay for internet access. I did read the novella. It was…bad.
Welcome to San Jose! I won’t be attending the conference so I won’t be stopping by, which is too bad since I live about three blocks away from the Convention Center. I hope you have a nice visit, unfortunately it appears you arrived on one of the coldest days I can remember around here, but at least it should be sunny.
@Morana – I was surprised how cold it was! I guess the silver lining is I may never make it outside – they’ve got me booked pretty tightly! Too bad you’re not at the convention – would have loved to meet you. If anyone else attending the Watermark conference for women is reading this, please come say hi!
Haha, I had the same thought when I read about Jude and Truman’s birthday party! Craziness. Although I tend to roll my eyes and laugh at a lot of magazine articles these days–maybe I’m getting more realistic, or the ideas are getting crazier.
@Caitlin – there are probably upsides and downsides to that particular family situation. I guess it’s a package deal 🙂