Time Keeps on Slipping...

"Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans", is a quote often attributed to John Lennon.

I've been known to say that I'm 'making good time but not getting anywhere'. My grandmother used to call it 'spinning your wheels'. It all means the same thing. The things we do can get in the way of the things we want.

Busywork. Merriam Webster defines it as:

If Writer's Block was a hungry monster it would define it as delicious. Busywork feeds Writer's Block and is the best-ever-pal-in-the-world-I'm-talking-Disney-sidekick-level to Inaction.

Busywork is the stuff you do when you aren't doing the important stuff. You trick yourself into doing something that you talk yourself into believing is more important than the important stuff.

That stuff can be anything: exercise, calling a friend, doing homework, or for many writers it takes the place of writing. Think of it as piling more and more things on the open and waiting arms of your Writer's Block, making it more and more difficult to get past it.

Busywork?

The actual busywork varies from person to person. Mine usually rotates between endless scrolling on my phone and actively cleaning out previously happy to be ignored corners of the house in fits of excessive industriousness.

Some common actions I've seen in myself and others may be familiar to you, too. Feel free to write a few notes and add some that you recognize in your own life:

• Making the perfect place to write. This could include shopping for the right desk, mouse, desk chair, task lamp, cute mug, under-desk pedal thing to keep the circulation going, painting the room, getting new curtains, or shopping for a she shed.
• Timing it perfectly between meals. Not before breakfast, after that second cup of coffee, before you start the crockpot, after you get the kids lunch, after this drink to loosen me up, or just getting those dishes done.
• Working towards the reward. I'll write once I get in my steps, lose five pounds, walk the dog, tidy the living room, clean out the garage, put up the Christmas tree, call Mom (important: call Mom!), cut the grass, fold the laundry, on the weekends.
• Writing something else. I need to just finish these emails, make a shopping list, post to Threads, get caught up on my Insta page, endlessly revise stuff you've already written or published.

Got Busywork?

Think of your normal day. A day that you have waited for all week. The day you just know you'll finally write That Thing. Jot some of the thoughts down.

• What are the things that you will do first?
• Who are the people around you and what will they say or do?
• How have you prepared for a good writing session?
• When do you do your most focused writing? Are you freshest in the morning or are you a night owl and have ideas that simply MUST be written before you can sleep?
• Where do you focus best on just writing? Outside? In a closet? Basement? Couch? Quiet reading nook? Library? Starbucks (not a sponsor, but I'm open to a deal), on the bus, in the bathroom?

Bust the Bonds of Busywork

Time management practices can bust you free of busywork. I like low key and simple (because seeking the one true and PERFECT way is a rabbit hole of busywork!) and I've seen this one work time and time again.

The Pomodoro Technique

(First- why the tomato? Pomodoro is Italian for 'tomato'. Why? Because. I don't make the rules.)

1. We'll think of specific lengths of time as tomatoes/pomodoros. Each tomato is 25 minutes. (Because it is. I don't make the rules.)
2. Set a timer - could be your phone, watch, or an actual timer- for 25 minutes.
3. Write until the timer goes off.
4. Take a five minute break.
5. Repeat three times.
6. After four pour pomodoros (two hours) you get a 30 minute break.
7. Decide if you will continue or if you have finished your writing for now.

Now Break the Rules

As you read those points did you find yourself bargaining? "I can do it for 10 minutes at a time, not 25!", or some such thoughts?

Perfect! Then set your timer for the focused time YOU want. A pomodoro is, at best, a method named after a tomato. The importance of the technique isn't in the amount of time, it's in the focus of the time. Modify the technique to fit your own needs and then commit to it.

Try it Now

• Open a fresh pad of paper, notebook, journal, or for Vocal writers: open Vocal on a new tab and click on 'Create Story'.
• Set a timer or choice for your pomodoro of choice. Could be the classic 25 minutes or the shortened length you prefer.
• Write until the timer rings. Use the notes you made as you read this piece. The subject is busywork. Or tomatoes. Or cooking. Or Italy. Or Writer's Block. Or whatever you do instead of writing. Or something else that is just your own.

If you tried the Pomodoro Technique and wrote something, go ahead and post it in the Writer's Community on Vocal, and add the link in the comments. Please leave a comment on this piece in the series and let me know if Busywork accompanies Inaction and feeds your Writer's Block.

~

Here's the first two parts of this series.

and here's the song that inspired the title: