Productivity

I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning...
-- Joseph Priestley, English theologian and scientist (1733-1804)

There are days when I feel completely useless. But by what meter am I measuring myself?

My mother sent me a newspaper article once about how an author has to wear "multiple hats" to be a success. And it was just addressing the issues of writers having to market and promote themselves in order to sell books and be successful as writers.

What about we writers being human beings? Wives? Husbands? Parents? Not to mention siblings, friends, coworkers (I mean, really, with a few notable exceptions, how many of us have quit our day jobs - yet?) ...

Do I fail as a wife and mother if my house doesn't get clean because I've written 2,000 words in a day?

Do I fail as a writer if I don't get a single word written because I've spent the entire day shopping with the kids? (Okay, so maybe that's a bad example because we all know how I feel about shopping ...)

On any given day, I can be a success or a failure. It hinges on what I'm doing. If I sit at the computer to write and do nothing but stare at the screen all day, and the housework still doesn't get done, then I haven't been very productive, have I?

Yesterday turned into one of those low productivity days as far as the writing career. But, I had a really good shift on the day job, got a couple loads of laundry done, and spent some quality time with my kids. So it was a productive day, but on a different front.

Today may turn out the same way, but I've already been to the store and got a load of laundry in, checked the email, did the crossword puzzle, and here I am, ready to write. Today, I will be productive. At something.

Make the most of today, whatever you're doing. And make sure you get some reading time in.

=) JB