Stinky McDirtPants

I have to hope that this is neither a local nor an individual happenstance: the inverse proportion between writing and cleanliness. Anyone?

Since the dawn of our spring break (which, for me, started on Thursday), I've been frantically working on an article due at the end of the month. To complicate matters, I've got a co-author, so the work entails a combination of individual writing and research, swapping of drafts, meeting to reorganize and restructure, more writing and researching, etc., etc. There's much to be said about weighing the advantages and disadvantages of co-writing; I'll save that for another post. For right now, let's just say that it's convenient that the two of us live close to each other, and that we're both apparently more and more forgiving about what she calls the "slippery slope of personal hygiene."

Honestly, I just don't get it. I LOVE to shower. I love to be clean!! Despite the previous post about the difficulties of scheduling hair washing, or perhaps BECAUSE of the difficulties, I tend to obsess about bathing. And yet, this "break" finds me in serious disarray. What is it about the process of writing that makes me avoid the shower? Is it punishment? Is it held out as a reward? Is it that I subconsciously believe that my funkiness will incubate any good ideas that I have?

In truth, my guess is that it's the schedule. The past few days have looked like this:

• drink coffee
• revise section or read relevant source material
  
• get up
• call co-author and decide on tasks
• write til lunch
• make lunch and eat
• call co-author and check in
• meet with CA and/or write more
• if the sun isn't down, get some exercise, or at least get off the couch, wherein I have been making quite an ass groove for myself

You see the problem here, right? Where do you fit a shower in there? At least going to the gym necessitates cleanliness, but by the time I workout and and eat dinner, it's 9, and all I want to do is lay supine and have television signals beamed directly into my brain.

You'll be happy to know that this assault on world hygiene ends today; Senor F and I are on our way out of town for a brief break. Solely for the good people of Gotham will I make sure that I cleanse myself daily. My skin won't know what to do with itself. If you hear "I'm melting, I'm melting!" you'll know who it's coming from.