Be Quick!

When the weather's like this, the big decision of the day is when to walk the dog without getting drenched.  I peer out of the window trying to calculate the odds on it brightening up later on, while factoring in the last chance of walking in daylight.  

And at some point the novel will have to be written.  Like the dog walk, I know it should be done every day, but unlike the dog, the novel doesn't have big appealing eyes and a mournful face. Perhaps if it existed in physical form - a stack of paper beside a battered typewriter, or a series of notebooks - it would be less easy to ignore.  Because it's incredible how easy it is to spend a whole day intending to get down to writing the novel and end up going to bed without being a single word further along the line, especially when the deadline is months away.  

When my dog was a puppy I trained him to perform to the command 'be quick'.  It's especially handy on the late night walk around the block.  If only I could train myself to respond to the same command because just as the dog needs walking every day, so does the novel. Be quick, Sarah! Be quick!