Off -Track

This weekend was where my daily blog goal went off the rails. I was not only a willing participant in its derailing, but as my goal came careening down the tracks, steaming towards the fabled fork—to blog or not to blog—I very clearly understood that unless I pulled the directional lever, the train would sail past me and straight into “Not To Blog-ville.” I chose not to intervene.

To be fair, the weekend was packed with writing—magazine work that took a bit longer than I’d anticipated, but that otherwise seems to have played out rather nicely. Although for this particular piece, I’m waiting on a brief, final interview and so my deadline of this morning has been extended. So I could have blogged last night, but, weary and comfortable, I instead chose to watch a couple of episodes of “Bookie.”

While watching “Bookie,” I took regular breaks to check my phone, because…well, welcome to the twenty-first century. Though I had shifted my phone into “Do Not Disturb” mode, I kept the Messages app open, so I could see when new texts came through and when they did, I picked up my phone and read them. Then, while holding said phone, I’d check the socials to see if any amusing or important DMs awaited my breathless attention. I cursed every single person who sent me a reel. I’d scan the local news headlines, return to the socials to make sure that I hadn’t missed anything, and returned to the show—often having to rewind to catch up with what seemed to be an important plot point that I’d missed while dicking around on my phone.

It would be glib to point out that this is time that I might have better spent writing, but the truth was that I was mentally spent from an afternoon of edits and rewrites. Until I find something better, it seems that my creative process depends on these pockets of attention-wandering, like letting a workhorse out into the field to run around, or sit, or do whatever the hell it pleases for awhile. The push and pull of the creative process. My creative process, anyway.

I’ll likely catch up with another blog later tonight, if not a whole damned feature, but for now, the horse is back at work and the work week beckons.