Unfocused, Multitasking, and Re-prioritizing

I took sort of an unexpected break from blogging.  It wasn’t planned; it was just that I didn’t do it for a couple weeks, and I’m not quite sure why.  It’s funny; I didn’t even check my stats, and with my addiction to numbers… I love checking my stats!

I wasn’t reading all that much either in the last couple of weeks.  I started writing again, really writing.  I wrote a couple short stories, did a couple of submissions to anthologies, and started thinking about what’s next for me, writing-wise.

Focus is a huge issue for me in general.  I usually have so much going on that it’s hard for me to do one thing at a time.  I read an article awhile back that people take pride in multitasking because they like to show they can do a bunch of things at once, but in reality, they tend to be less productive overall because each “switch” of task costs time and energy.  I read the article, nodded sagely, and thought, “Well that’s true for everyone else but not for me.”

I know the trap and lie of being special, and I still bought it.  That came to mind recently when I realized how unproductive I’ve been.  I do a million and one things and some days feel like I get nothing done.  I start lots of things, but don’t finish much.  Right now, I have four novels started.  In my readerly opinion, they’re all good stories.  But currently, they’re lying dormant because I’m not focused enough to finish anyone of them.

I’m going to have to stop that, and one of the ways is going to be to draw up a schedule for myself.  It’s not because I’m rigid or anything, but I like having a structure.  Let’s face it… if they didn’t tell me what time to be at work, I might never get there.  I like my job, but there are other things I’d rather do.  It’s the same thing with writing.  There’s nothing I’d rather do, but it’s so easy to get distracted by all the things I think need to get done.

So… I’m going to make myself a schedule.  We’ll see how that works out.  🙂