The Daily Report
While I like to think of myself as a natural problem-solver, I’m coming to realize that one of the tools I rely on a bit too much is the work-around. When something breaks down or a plan doesn’t work out, my instinct is to salvage it before getting a replacement or coming up with something else. On a small scale and in the short term, this is probably a useful skill to have. My problem is that I wind up leaning on it, making do with things that are just getting worse and worse.
Case in point: my old computer. It had great specs for a non-gaming computer at the time I got it, but I was fighting its quirks from day one, and it was downhill from there. Yet as long as it “worked”—for a certain value of work—I stubbornly insisted on fighting it. How much creative energy did I burn out in frustration waiting for programs to load or dealing with its crashes? How much work did I lose, either literally and directly or indirectly through time spent troubleshooting and energy spent worrying?
I didn’t realize how bad it was until it died and I replaced it… but even then I didn’t realize quite how bad it had gotten. In the last several months in particular, I’d started putting off so much necessary stuff, basically pared my work day down to just the writing… which works fine when I’m on a creative tear, but just makes thing worse when I’m not. I need the other stuff as a palate cleanser, a way of shifting gears and not actively thinking about writing when it’s not going great.
Plus, you know, it’s necessary. The last part of the Volume I Omnibus has been sitting there forever, going nowhere. Stuff like that.
I wound up finding myself a bit lost last week, as I hadn’t realized how much stuff was piled up and had a bit of decision paralysis when it came to prioritizing it. This week, I’m starting out with two decisions.
One: first thing I do every day (after this status post) is e-book compilation/formatting. That was so great a way to transition my brain into work mode, right up until the only computer I could do it on decided that Office programs were an inefficient use of its aging RAM.
Two: number one priority this week, unshakable and unbreakable, is that I resume posting Tales of MU. New chapter goes up Friday. Period.
The State of the Me
Doing okay. Weekend was busy, sleep has been a little uneven.
Plans For Today
Since I got overwhelmed last week, I’m breaking today up into manageable one-hour chunks: one hour office stuff, one hour fun stuff like writing, one hour cleaning up my living and working space, repeat. If it works well, I’m going to incorporate the idea of Monday as a maintenance day into my routine, where I can clear up accumulated clutter and disorder or pick up tasks that I have fallen behind on.