I’ve never really cared much for construction sites. Anything dirtier than my office bothers me. Considering my office is currently in the garage where every tool, pool toy, and all the camping equipment reside should give you a baseline. The thing that really bothers me are the signs they put up around the fence or scaffolding that tell you, “WORK IN PROGRESS” though. I mean, yeah, duh. What’s the point? It’s blatantly obvious to anyone passing by that something is going on. But it did give me an idea.

There’s a very good reason why I wait until everyone has gone to sleep before I sit down to write. Otherwise I’m faced with the most dreaded thing writers such as myself fear. No, not writer’s block. Distractions.

I envy the literary folks that can walk into a crowded cafe, pull up a chair and setup shop. They can type away on their laptops while dozens of conversations are going on around them. That’s not me. The voices in my head don’t scream as loud as they used to, and I have to listen carefully for them. You know what I’m saying? Trying to concentrate with people walking into and out of my office is like asking Alec Baldwin to be a nice guy. It’s just not going to happen. It is what it is, so I deal with it the best way I know how. Late at night, after everyone is asleep, then I write.

Passing a construction site on my way to work yesterday gave me an idea. I’m not sure if it will work or not, but it’s worth a shot. If I hang a “Work in Progress” sign on my office door and tell my family this means they should not disturb me, maybe, just maybe, I might be able to write during the day, before the vampires come out to play.

It would certainly speed things up if I could add just an hour or more to my writing schedule. As it is now, there are days when I’m in the zone, and lose all track of time. Normally this would be a good thing. Not so good when you realize that you have an hour to take a shower and get ready for work. Do that a few times in a week and see if you can keep your sanity. Just sayin’.

Speaking of schedules, it has been a somewhat productive week. I worked on the “About” page for the site one night, and got carried away. If I’m not mistaken, I believe it was a little over 4,000 words by the time I saved the first draft. Chris James said that I should complete my stories before editing, so by God that’s what I did. Sanity returned the next morning, and based on some suggestions, I trimmed it to just over 500 words.

I also wrote my next Indies Unlimited article which will go live on their site 5/28/2012 at 8:00 EST. It’s called, “How to Write a Novel”, so be sure to look for it. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking; Rush isn’t even published yet and he’s going to tell us how to write a novel. Trust me on this, there’s some good advice in there. Hard to believe I just said that with a straight face.

Zero progress on The Guild Inc. novel this week. Instead I’ve focused on a couple of short stories (for the other book I’m writing). One of those stories is called, The Ride, and I posted the first two (unprofessionally edited) chapters online. I’m currently working on chapter six, and I think I’m half-way done. I can’t wait to edit this one.

When all the short stories are done, then I’ll send it off to an editor and publish it. Until then, you’ll just have to live with my neophyte mistakes. By the way, the two chapters I posted are the only ones that will be posted here. If you don’t like to read a sample from a WIP, then wait for the book.

I’d like to thank the following people for helping me with various things this week. If you’re reading this, then your name should probably be on the list too. Leave me a comment.

My wife and children
My Mom (Happy Birthday!)

Lynne @LynneinPborouch 
Stephen Hise @StephenHise
Chris James @GenesisFan8
Jo-Anne Teal @jtvancouver
KS Brooks @AuthorKSBrooks
Donna B. McNicol @DonnaBMcNicol
Pamela Skjolsvik @pametaskjolsvik
Angie Richmond @write_me_happy
Steven P. Watson @ashviper
Ruth Long @bullishink
Jo VonBargen @jvonbargen
Veronica Sicoe @VeronicaSicoe
Betty Barnes @TxYellowRose

Thank you all, especially for the smiles. They went a long way this week!

Okay, now to go dust off that sign I ….found, and hang it on the door.

–KD