Re-charging the Batteries

Sometimes the best solution is to rest, relax and recharge. It’s hard to be your best on empty.
― Sam Glenn

If you neglect to recharge a battery, it dies. And if you run full speed ahead without stopping for water, you lose momentum to finish the race.
― Oprah Winfrey

Life is all about balance. You don’t always need to be getting stuff done. Sometimes it’s perfectly okay, and absolutely necessary, to shut down, kick back, and do nothing.
― Lori Deschene

Well. That didn’t exactly go as planned.

My plan was, I’d take July off and not worry about blogging. I had some sort of vision of using all that free time for other writerly things – finish the edits on Magickal Mayhem and maybe start the ones on Elemental Spirit, get a few blog posts written ahead of time so I don’t always feel like I’m having to catch up, get a few installments ahead in my serial story – and maybe do some non-writerly things – clean up my office and get things organized (again!), get some sewing done, get some gardening done . . .

Turns out I don’t spend all that much time blogging after all. I just feel the crunch a lot of the time because I’m a big ‘ole procrastinator who tends to leave things for the last minute. Even when I start working on a blog post the night before, it’s usually late at night so not only am I feeling the pressure, I’m feeling super tired as well.

The other part of the plan that did not go as intended, I didn’t just take a break from blogging, I ended up taking a break from all things writing-related. I wrote one poem (because I had to for the poetry group) and a few notes for the serial story, and that was it.

I think it’s important to take a break once in awhile to recharge and renew your spirit, and even though my off time didn’t go as planned, I think I needed it. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by the pressure of all these expectations, mostly my own, and I needed to just step back for a bit and let go.

Last time the pressure started to build up I escaped into books. This time, in the beginning at least, I escaped into my needlework. Not exactly doing all the writing I’d planned on, but still creative in its own way. And while I did read a lot, I was able to take it at a slower pace and – be still my heart – none of the books I read were by Nora Roberts!

So. I got some sewing done, it’s been way too hot to do any gardening (not that my garden is doing well anyway), and I did get some organizing done in my office. And I came back from my hiatus with my batteries charged and I’m ready to get back to work.

Going forward, I think I’m going to start looking for ways to relieve the pressure I put myself under so it doesn’t build up again. I was going to say I’d take one day a week for this, but I think scheduling time to relax would be kind of counterproductive. Instead, maybe I’ll try one guilt-free thing every day, where I indulge myself without feeling guilty – a couple of hours of reading, coffee with a friend, a walk along the waterfront . . .

Relaxing without guilt – what better way to recharge your batteries?

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

WORDAGE REPORT

Well, really. I feel like a bit of a fraud, filling out this writing report. I’m still just getting back into the swing of things, so I don’t have all that much to report.

NEW WORDS:
Blog Posts – 553+650+182+696=2,081
Poetry – 85 (included in blog post)

Total words: 2,081

Goals For Next Week:
Bring that total up – maybe try to add some bonus words.

EDITING:
? pages
Here’s the thing. I did get some editing done on Magickal Mayhem, but it was a swath of pages, mostly done in one day, and I didn’t think to keep track of just how many. But let me assure you, progress has been made.

Goal For Next Week:
Get back to work on Magickal Mayhem.

MARKETING MONDAY:
When last I posted I’d talked about removing this from the report. I think my problem is limiting myself to one day. So maybe instead of Marketing Monday, this will just be Marketing, so I don’t feel like Mondays are the only days I can submit anything.

Goal For Next Week:
Submit two flash stories and one poem.

TECHNO TUESDAY:
Again, limiting myself to one day a week for all things technical may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but in practice it just doesn’t make sense. So this one will be changed to Tech & Training, because going forward I’d like to try learning something new every week.

That being said, I actually did spend time doing techy stuff while I was off, and I was forced to learn a few things. Like, Staples sucks (don’t get me started on what they put me through when I took my lap top to them to make sure it was virus free). I learned that when Lenovo pre-loads programs onto the computers you buy from them, they don’t give you product key for those products. However, it is possible to download them again. Of course re-downloading MS Office also meant I have to personalize it all over again.

Also, I’m not too thrilled McAfee right now either. My paid-for version was replaced with a trial version, and I was not able to make the stupid thing understand I was paying for it already. So when the trial ran out I ended going with a different program.

Goal For Next Week:
Learn something new. Keep customizing Word.

POETRY WEDNESDAY:
How fortunate that I had a gathering with my poet friends a couple of weeks ago. I had my poem all ready to go, I just needed to write the post about it. No, I do not consider it cheating. LOL

Goal For Next Week:
Find a new form to share on my Wednesday blog post.

CRAFTING:
Okay, it would be cheating if I went over all the crafting I did during my break, so I’ll stick to the past week. Which means I can’t talk about the sundress I took apart, made a skirt out of the bottom, and started a sleeveless blouse (which I embroidered) to go with it. And then my sewing machine broke down. *sigh*

At the end of June, my stitchery guild had a stash sale and I picked up several stitchery kits. One of them was a square tablecloth with a stamped cross stitch pattern. It had already been started, but just a small portion, so I took it with me to World Embroidery Day – an event my guild celebrated by stitching in the park. I realized that whoever started it had not followed the colour guide, so I spent most of my time picking the stitches out. That’s been an ongoing thing since, but yesterday I finished the picking and I’m ready to start stitching.

Goal For Next Week:
Work on the cancer afghan I started before my break. Get the sewing machine working and finish my skirt and blouse.

WHAT I’M READING:
OMG You have got to be kidding me! I read a bunch of books. And the worst part is, I haven’t been keeping my Goodreads account updated, so I’m going to be a couple of hours making a huge dump of books on it. Those that I can remember.

I kind of divided my time between tree books and my Kindle, and while the tree books have a physical presence for my list, I didn’t always remember to write down what I was reading on my Kindle. Oops!

Goal For Next Week:
Keep better track of books, going forward.

GOAL REVIEW:

Well, I guess the only goals I can refer back to are my expectations of what I was going to do during my hiatus. So that would be all the stuff from the beginning of this post.

While I didn’t get the writing done I’d hoped to, I did get some editing done, so there’s that at least. I got my office cleaned and kind of organized again, and I got some crafting done. Didn’t do a lot of gardening because it was too hot and there wasn’t much to do – pulled the spinach that went to seed before I could use any of it, and I’ve picked the beans twice.

All things considered . . . I’ve done worse on my goals. And I have a whole week to do better.

Happy writing.