Just because I’m looking out the window doesn’t mean I’m not working.
Okay, maybe at the day job it means I’m not working on day job stuff, but it doesn’t mean I’m not working on writing stuff.
It hasn’t been easy for me to be taken seriously as a writer to begin with. It’s that not bringing in a regular paycheck thing that throws people off. There’s this idea that, paid or not, writing isn’t work. And that idea gets a boost when people see you sitting there doing “nothing”.
Well, I’m here to tell you that most of the time I’m not doing nothing. More than likely, I”m thinking about something.
That game of Bejeweled Blitz could be a break between writing jags. Ditto with checking email or checking Twitter. I’m a big fan of writing sprints, ten minutes writing, ten minutes not, particularly when I’m working on longer projects and particularly when I’m struggling. And if I am sprinting, then those ten minutes I’m not writing aren’t going to waste. I may look like I’m doing nothing, but in reality, I’m plotting what I’m going to write for the next ten minutes.
A lot of plotting and idea developing are done while doing “nothing”. Or while doing the mundane. I’ve done a lot of idea development while playing mindless games of Spider Solitaire and Free Cell or while cooking dinner and doing the laundry. Some great ideas have come to me while I was just staring out the window.
Hell, that’s how I got the idea for this blog post.
My point is that appearances can be decieving and writing is more than just typing. Writing is actually work. It’s an involved process. Maybe it doesn’t make me break a sweat, but it does involve some serious effort. It can be frustrating. The idea doesn’t jump to the page from the first second it appears in my brain and it doesn’t make it onto the paper perfectly the first time. Only once have I had an idea hit the paper so smoothly that it only needed a little revision, but the idea still needed a few days to percolate before I could get down the first word.
Believe me. I’m working a lot, even if it doesn’t look that way.
Okay, maybe not as much at the day job.
Stories By The Numbers
Submitted: 2 (“Playing Chicken” and “Such a Pretty Face”)
Ready: 8 (“Customer Service”, “Game Night”, “An Active Sleeper”, and “At 3:36” join “Husband and Wife”, “Elevator”, “Bigger Than a Squirrel”, and “Erin Go Bragh”)
Accepted/Rejected: 0
Kiki Writes About... 
Very true. Just because I’m reading your perceptive blog post doesn’t mean I’m not writing. Or writing something in addition to comments on your perceptive blog post. Or thinking of how many ways I can say “perceptive blog post” without looking like a spambot. While writing.
Exactly. Writing is just an epic game of multi-tasking. Even as I’m replying to you, I’m thinking about a short story I’m working on.
Also, thank you for complimenting my perceptive blog post.