I haven’t written in a week.
A good part of that has to do with the state of *waves hands at the world* everything. More times than I like ot admint, I find myself mindlessly (or semi-mindlessly) doomscrolling (which is an awesome word for it) through twitter, bouncing from one garbage fire to another.
It saps my energy.
Though I can’t lay the blame entirely on social media. I need to own some of that myself. One of the greatest things about writing is that it’s something that you can do anywhere, at any time.
This is also one of the greatest procrastination traps around writing. I’ll put it off because, you know, it’s something that I can do anytime, anywhere, right?
Not really. I kept telling myself this past week that I’d later. After I get off work. Once I’m done with chores, later in the evening.
Want to know something? “Later” never comes.
There’s only now, when I’ve spent my spoons on damn near everything else and the activation energy cost to start writing is so large, because I’ve got nothing left.
So I’ll tell myself I’ll write tomorrow – and you know about tomorrow, right?
So, today, I told myself, I was going to put the writing first. And you know what? After I got the breakfast and the coffee (Essential) done, I sat down to write and I got it done.
After I scratched that off the “To-Do” list, a couple of things happened:
First, I felt so much better that I’d gotten it done. Second, the rest of the day seemed lighter as well.
Don’t get me wrong, the Sunday list is pretty heavy – it usually is – but today I’m not carrying that “You should have been/should be writing” weight on my shoulders.
I know I’ve fallen off my schedule. It’s pretty easy to do when you consider just how much has changed. I’ve got a lot more lee-way in the day to day stuff, and it’s no surprise to find that’s led to slippage on my part.
This next week, I’m going to get myself back on schedule. It’s going to take work. And sacrifice. Back in the “Before Times” I didn’t have much in the way of “Down-time” for myself and I’ve got more of that now, and its a heady feeling.
Since nothing else has the capacity for “Give,” it’s some of that down time I’ve got to sacrifice (Which, I figure, will always be the case until I’m able to retire from the day job – cuz that sure as hell isn’t going to give).
That’s going to be hard but, in the long run, I know the sacrifice will be worth it.
It was today.
Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
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