Today's Writing in My Car

Time: 6:50 a.m.
Temperature: 46 degrees
Meal: Biscuit and coffee
Goal: To read through chapters, highlighting clunky and passive language. Writing summary of each scene.

Person of the Day: A white woman in her late 70s climbs out of her silver 70s-era Datsun 240Z. She adjusts her black-framed glasses and tugs on a blue Rite-Aid smock over her striped sweater. Her back slopes up - she has a hump. It's almost seven in the morning, and she's toddling across the parking lot to Rite Aid. At 70-something. Working at this age? What's her story? Why does my heart ache for her?

I jammed through 30 pages, but my mind started futzing around on me. I stopped, and scribbled my shopping list for Christmas dinner. Refreshed again, I returned to my WIP and 20 more pages. That's what I do - when energy starts to lag, I back away from it, and turn my attention elsewhere like shopping lists, To Do lists, or e-mail. Not as a procrastination method, but more like a mini-getaway. You (or your work) won't suffer this way.

What do you do to refresh?