Well… I’ve come to Washington, D.C. for a few days and I’ve had to quickly accept that I’m unlikely to get the nice open runways of writing time that I feel like I need so much during this whirlwind, which is of course going to dash my momentum on my ongoing project but will make the trip more fun and not ruined by mopeyness. I feel like my writing process can be very fragile and needs to be handled with kid gloves. So here’s what I’ve done to keep the flame burning in these dark (writing-wise) times:
- I turned off word count tracking on my work in progress and have chosen to no longer collect data about my productivity concerning it.
- I’ve deliberately and actively resolved to focus on enjoying the unique experience of being here rather than choosing to feel deprived when I’m not left all alone with my computer.
I think these are good moves… and something funny ended up happening anyway. I did end up with a little time to myself, and I got inspired to write a new short story. So I did. I suppose it will be the first in a new collection.
Being here has given me a couple more ideas as well, but of course I am not overflowing with time to work on them. I do not think the entire collection will be D.C.-themed or anything but it is good to feel like an adaptable writer. Although, maybe if I were really adaptable I would still have been working on my first ongoing project. Oh well. I will get back to that soon enough.