I Love Being a . . .

Of course you expect me to fill in the last word of that declaration, and it should be "Writer," yes? Of course I am a writer. And of course I love it.

But, last night I had a little blip. My inner musician surfaced and caused me to lose sleep.

I blame it on the music in my head.

This is the week I'm supposed to finish up all the little corrections on my book and send it off to a certain publisher, right? Well, instead I've spent at least two days checking out blogs and doing research on the Internet--but not anything relevant to my book or my next novel. I've been downloading MIDI files of patriotic songs.

Why? you ask (and I do, too).

Because I bought this music program several years ago that I've put off installing on my computer. It's notation software, for writing down/printing off any musical compositions or arrangements I might have lurking in my head (and they've been coming out lately!). I had the notation software, and I have this electronic keyboard, plus a cable thingie to hook it up so I could play and see the notes appear on screen. At least that was the plan. For someday.

I opened the cable thingie last week and discovered that my new computer doesn't have the 15-pin joystick interface I needed to attach it. Bummer! I found a USB powered interface on the Internet, ordered it, received it, opened it (discovering that the manual is not there, but I think I can figure out how to install it), and it's still sitting near my computer. Waiting for someday.

Late last week I installed the notation software and let the icon sit on my desktop. I even moved it around a bit, but I didn't open it. You see, I have this novel to finish!

Well, last night I remembered that I'd left my dial-up connection open, and returned from watching "Deadliest Catch," to check my email.

That's when everything went to heck!

I OPENED THE PROGRAM!

Not only did I open the program and discover that when I opened the MIDI files in it, I could see the notation guts of the songs--some in up to seven tracks--I scrounged around and found some long-ago-written music and entered it into the program.

Do you know how alluring hearing your music played flawlessly on a piano, or a church organ, or by a string ensemble, is?

Sheesh! I didn't get into bed until 5 a.m. this morning.

AND MY NOVEL STILL ISN'T FINISHED! Yes, I'm yelling, but it's at myself. Today I'm headed for the library with my laptop and flashdrive to get away from the music so I can finish those last little changes.

Did I ever tell you how badly I can get distracted? It's the ADD.