Too busy to be productive

I have freed my desk from all non-book distractions.

I use activity to procrastinate. If I am cleaning the house or cooking for company or doing paperwork at the office late at night, I am by definition too busy to work on my book.

HOWEVER… I am on yet another furlough from work, and despite the fact that I will make about 4.5% less money than I did last year, I’m really happy to have the week to get back into writing. For the moment, anyway, I am not too busy to be productive.

I’m starting this blog as an excuse to continue procrastinating

I am a journalist who works for a major newspaper chain that, like all newspaper chains, is struggling with transforming changes within our industry and a terrible U.S. economy on top of that. This week I am on an unpaid furlough, which I thought would be miserable but is turning out to be quite inspiring.

I've spent much of the week on this bench, finishing "2666" and drinking white wine.

I promised myself I would spend this week being the kind of mother who reads to the class and eats in the cafeteria. (It’s Wednesday, and I’ve already done both of those things. I’ve also bought her some socks at Target, cooked dinner each night, planted seeds in my container garden, replenished the bird feeders, made blueberry pies, killed a bottle of wine on an old friend’s patio, and wandered around the stacks at Borders.)