This week was the time for one of those palm-to-the-forehead “duh, how could I have been so silly” moments. On the plus side, I did figure things out eventually. What I figured out was that, thanks to a great teaching timetable, I had been given the gift of time to write this semester, and I wasn’t using it as much as I should be. I mean, am I a writer or not?
Well, “not” judging by my output. I’m very talented at wasting time on the computer, checking business email, LinkedIn, two school email connections, Twitter, RSS feeds, and too much solitaire. I have done quite a lot of brainstorming, but I haven’t sat down and actually cranked out the words. Typical fear of blank screens at play there. And I do mean typical–I do a lot to avoid LED-face time. And I was particularly effective last week.
However–
I will not be letting time slip away this week. Maybe it’s spring fever, but I feel energized and positive about moving forward–something that’s been missing for a while. Maybe it was getting my author copies of Sherlock Holmes and Orphanage Mystery and seeing how amazing the finished product looked with all the illustrations. Maybe it was coming up with a new story idea for the anthology. Maybe it was getting excited about doing some research. Maybe it was having a lot of marking to do and having to put the writing aside to get that done–and finally realizing that I can write and mark and that that was no excuse. A lot of things.
The marking pile is lower now, and I’m going to sit down this week with my Alphasmart Neo to get some writing done. If you haven’t seen one of these great contraptions, here’s a link. It’s a sturdy plastic keyboard that runs on AA batteries (for 700 hours!) with a very small screen and no Internet connections. It’s robust, portable, and distraction free and with a fuss-free USB connection, it loads your work into a Word document on your computer. It solves 2 of my distraction problems at once –no Internet and no solitaire–and I can use it anywhere.
So onward to a busy week of marking, writing, house chores, etc.–but there will be writing. You’ll get my wordcount report next week!
