14 January 2011

Unplugged

A few days ago, I spent a truly scary amount of time staring aimlessly at the screen of my laptop.
I could blame it on several factors, but it wouldn’t change the facts.

This aimlessness caused me to miss some self-imposed deadlines (self-imposed, yes; but still important) and fall behind on my writing goals. In fact, when reporting my word count today at FindYourWords, I was 500 words short of my writing goal for the week.

In an act of desperation, since even reading my RSS Feed felt like too much work, I decided to steal a resolution out of Joanna Penn’s New Year’s Resolutions. I unplugged.

I turned off my laptop, instead of just closing it and letting it hibernate (which felt symbolic and made me feel stronger), I took my notebook and went to bed.

And I started to write. Something I couldn’t accomplish with my laptop on, apparently.

It’s hard to call those days of aimless staring a writer’s block. My creativity was there. I just didn’t feel like making an effort.

Maybe I was just burned out? I wouldn’t be able to tell for sure as it was the first time I felt like that.

Since the next three months are going to be very intense, because I have a lot of stuff on my plate that I just *have to* complete, I will have to learn how to pace myself.

Or I will have to learn how to do it better. I guess I really can’t keep the same writing speed I had during holidays. Not with a regular 8 hour work day on top of that.

It’s a learning experience, figuring out everything connected to writing and earning money.

Here’s hoping I’ll manage to get everything settled soon.

2 comments:

Vivian Marie said...

HA! You know, I just said I was going to edit my book description, and then I thought, "Well, before I do, I'll pop over and read Jane's blog." Talk about not being able to concentrate when you're plugged in!

I feel your pain, honey! ;)

Also, writing on top of the 8 hour work day is brutal... I feel it ALL too well. But I believe in you! We can do it!

Jane Rutherford said...

Procrastination is our biggest enemy, but you're right, We can do it! (and we will, because we are awesome *firm nod*)