Writing for Love without Pride

I like to compare the love of writing to food, I can't live without it. And now that I have found this refreshingly sweet home to post my thoughts, I'm addicted. I'm on chapter two of this short story i'm working on, and the plot is getting better and better. There are ups and downs to my life as a writer, for example the lack of sleep. Ugghhh, yesterday I hardly had any sleep. I went to bed at 2:00 a.m. then woke up at 7:00 a.m. then slept again and woke up at 10:00a.m. I have a tendency of thinking too much about my characters, what they should be doing, what they should be saying and where they should be going. The main character of my short story is a man, i've never written from a male's point of view before, this is the first and i'm loving it. The challenge is of course avoiding the little cliches here and there, you know stuff a woman usually say that a man won't. I hope to finish this story before August in order to go back to my incomplete second novel. I am a little tired, wish I could have a tall cup of coffee right about now with some chocolate chip cookies.