The Monkey On My Back

Here we go again...

It should have been done years ago, but procrastination is my middle name. I once read that, during this pandemic, that for all of those of us who say we've wanted to bake bread, read a particular book, learn to play an instrument, or write a book but couldn't find the time, we weren't too busy: we lacked discipline.

I agree and will be the first with his hand up to admit that I am one of the least-disciplined people I know. I'm far too easily distracted.

I used to blame this blog, accusing it of taking up my spare time. That's not true. I use it as a crutch, and my excuse holds no merit. Besides, these days, at any given time I have at least a dozen posts ready to go.

When I've told myself that I should get back to writing my novel, Gyeosunim, I've done so when I've either been busy with my day job or have been kayaking on some lake or river.

I have more than 100 pages written, and I was working for several hours a week before the lockdown came, in March. Since then, I have done little to forward my progress. The most I've done, over the past four months, is come up with an idea or a snippet of narrative, and write it in my notebook.

I went back to Korea, last year, to light a fire under my butt and find some old memories, and also to make new ones.

I've got to sit back down and write. And last Friday, I finally did just that.

Until mid-September, I've booked every Friday off from work. Because DW's and my trip to Europe has been cancelled, I need to find other ways to use up my vacation time. DW and I will use some of them to do things together, but unless we've planned an outing, I will use this day to sit at my laptop and write.

I spent four hours re-reading what I have written so far, and I've made some sizable changes. I've amalgamated four chapters into one (which makes me feel better because I thought one story line was dragging on--Roland didn't even get back to Korea until chapter seven: he's now there in chapter three). And one part of the story didn't even make sense, so I totally re-wrote it.

I feel good about the work that I did last Friday and am keen to keep going. If all goes well, I'll be finished the full manuscript by the time my Fridays off are used up and I can start the editing process. With fingers crossed, my long-awaited sequel to Songsaengnim: A Korea Diary will be off to the publishers by the end of 2020.

I know, I've said it so many times that it's hard to take me seriously. But in the age of COVID-19, I aim to be more disciplined and finish this one task, and get this monkey off my back.

From the Korean National Folk Museum, in Seoul: the monkey is my Asian zodiac sign.