I am really having a hard time focusing. Whether it is work, downtime, hobbies, whatever, I cannot stay focused. Is it spring fever? Is is lack of direction? Is is boredom? Or maybe all of the above.
I like my job. I'm loving that it is spring, I don't particularly feel bored. I may need a new hobby or two. I really think that it is lack of direction, lack of direction in my plan to start writing short stories. I'm not even sure that I have any talent in that area but I think about it all the time and I really, really want to explore it. But everytime I start to work on it there seem to be a million distractions.
I don't usually have time to work on my writing until the evening. After I get home from work, walk the dog, do a few chores, feed the dog, fix dinner, clean up dishes, take a shower and finally sit down, I am whooped!! I can hardly stay awake to watch Real Housewives (teehee). So then I tell myself that I will work on it this weekend. Boy do weekends fly by!! There is always so much to get done, and not enough time, between errands, chores, laundry, maybe some fun.....it's over. Another opportunity to work on my writing is gone. Then there are the times that I just want to sit and not have to think and just veg out, although I don't get to do that very often.
I am afflicted with "one more thing" itis. Everytime I think I am going to sit down and just chill or pull out my laptop to write I feel like I should just get one more thing done before I get started. I can do one more thing before I leave for a walk. I can clean one more thing off before I have to leave for work. It's a sickness I know, but I can't help myself.
I have set times for going to work everyday, set things I need to accomplish while I'm at work. Sure there are distractions but you deal with them and then get back to work. Everyday when I go to work I already have a plan in my mind of what I want to get achieve that day. There are set times for breaks and for stopping work for the day.
So I have come to the realization that I have to treat my writing like a job. I am going to have to set specific times, whether it is daily or just several times a week and definitely on the weekend. I am going to have to sit at a table not lounge on the couch, have my laptop, assorted notebooks, notes, ideas all right there in front of me. I need to work at it for a specific amount of time and not get up and do "one more thing" that I might think of while I'm sitting there. I will have ignore the distractions, although, I cannot work in complete silence. I have to have some kind of background noise, either the radio or TV with the volume down low. If I have to work in complete silence I tend to get really distracted. When I was in school, I always had to have the radio or TV on in order to concentrate. Weird, I know, but true.
So from now on writing will be my "part-time job". I am very routine oriented so making a working routine will go a long way to helping me. In the summer I always take 10 of my vacation days and use them on 10 Fridays during the summer so that I have 10 three day weekends starting in the middle of June. I'm hoping that will give me some more free time to write. I have all these ideas flying around in my head all the time and I need to get them on paper.
Focus...Focus...Focus...
RECIPE OF THE DAY BLACKBERRY COBBLER (Ree Drummond)
1 stick of butter
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons of sugar
1 cup self-rising flour
1cup of milk
2 cups of fresh or frozen blackberries (or blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.)
Preheat oven 350 and grease a 3 qt. baking dish with butter
Melt the stick of butter in microwave
In a separate bowl whisk 1 cup of sugar with the flour and milk
Whisk in the melted butter
Rinse berries and pat dry
Pour batter into baking dish and sprinkle berries evenly over the top of the batter
Sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar over the berries
Bake of 1 hr. until golden brown and bubbly
With 10 min. of cooking time left, sprinkle on 2 tbs of sugar
Serve by the spoonfuls and add whipped cream or ice cream if you want!
Kathy
No comments:
Post a Comment