The Sims 2 has gotten quite a workout these past two weeks. I just got the Pets expansion, and I’m crazy about all those kitties.

But I’ve been kind of depressed about not writing (I’ve been indulging my sweet, sweet Sims 2 love). So today, when I got up at a reasonable hour (yes, it’s amazing), I sat down and wrote two whole pages on my Isabelle story.

Go me. I rock.

Anyway, Alex tells me I have to keep working while I’m on a hot streak, and I know he’s right even though I’d like to go make some more puppies. So I’m off.

You hear writers say “Oh, it’s so hard to be a writer” and “Woe is me, I’m blocked” and “Man, I really need a time out from that story!” but you never really believe them because all you have time to do between classes and school clubs and friends is to jot down a scene here or a paragraph there. You’re constantly stimulated by people and places and new information, and if you have time to be bored, then you must have forgotten that math exam you haven’t studied for yet.

But the reality is that when you have nothing else to do — when you’re faced with writing or failing, and your story is sitting there, staring at you day in and day out like one of those creepy paintings where the eyes follow you . . . When you actually have to ante up, it’s not as easy as you thought it would be.

You can’t just sit down and go “I’m going to write!” You sit down and open the laptop and then think “I wonder what episode of ‘Law and Order’ is on right now.” Then, after “Law and Order,” you realize you haven’t written anything, so you go get a snack to recharge your brain and shake Lenny’s clever witticism out of your head. But as you’re baking cookies or methodically peeling an orange (you can’t type with orange juice on your fingers or the keyboard will get all sticky), you decide to see if there’s another “Law and Order” on because there usually is, and you need something to do while you peel and bake since you can’t write. So you watch another one and cheer the verdict and shout “You go, Jack!” when he convinces the jury. And by then, you’ve eaten but you still haven’t written anything.

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