Productivity, thy name is not Anne-Mhairi

If you were so kind as to drop by this blog yesterday you will have noticed that there was no Friday Flash piece. In fact, there wasn’t anything new at all. I had decided I was definitely going to do Friday Flash on an ongoing basis but somewhere along the line the idea fell into the ocean of my life and sank.

Which isn’t to say I didn’t have an idea for a story. I did. I still do. It’s about Smurfs and it was shaping up to be rather entertaining as I was giggling to myself on my morning walk. Unfortunately (and this situation will have to be remedied soon) I had no way to record my thoughts as I walked and by the time I got back in front of my computer the shine had gone off it. It remains half-baked in the oven of my mind (and in a Word doc). At some point, hopefully, I’ll get back to it.

I had thought I might write it today, but it’s still not shining. I know the school of thought that says you must, must, MUST work at writing, including the sub-faction that recommends sitting in front of the keyboard and staring at the screen until your brain explodes, but I do have to be in the mood.

Not necessarily in the mood for writing (I am almost always in that mood) but in the mood to write this particular piece. This is why I tend to work on several things at a time and I am usually more productive when I work this way. I have nothing but vast amounts of solid gold respect for people who can stick with one project, forsaking all others, until completion do them part, but I am not one of those people. I’m fickle, a flirt, the swinger of the writing world.

(Just realised that last sentence makes me sound rather more interesting that I probably am. And I hate to think of the search terms that this article will lead to my blog. But the idea is making me smile, so the sentence remains.)

I do know that I am far more productive when I actually produce. Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. I mean, when I sit down and do some editing, or some planning/outlining, or some writing of a synopsis that I should have finished two days ago (eek!) or even some plain old writing… Doing something within my field makes me feel that I am actually achieving something, so then I have happies with which to move on to the next thing on my list. Or the item two lines above, or the very last one. Again, it depends on my mood. But the important thing is that these items do get done.

Once I have completed one thing (and ticked it off the list with a flourish) I feel like I am the Superwoman of writing, solving problems, getting things done, completing tasks, and this gives me the energy to carry on going. Unfortunately, this week I got derailed when I submitted a short story and then sat around biting my nails for the next 36 hours waiting for feedback.

That will definitely happen again, but hopefully I’ll be able to get other things done in the meantime. My stress doesn’t like to share its brain time, but it’s just going to have to learn.