![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Zapped Energy, Writing Guilt, and Silver Linings
Monday, May 25th, 2020 05:56 pmMy energy has flatlined. Even when there's not much to do, lately I drag myself through the day and go to bed dead tired. Maybe an iffy diet or poor sleep is to blame. Or maybe all these weeks of staying indoors most of the time are starting to tell. Probably all of the above.
Most days I read, draw, and write at least a little. Technically I'm staying on top of the goals I set for myself, and yet it doesn't feel that way. I'm not reading as much as I used to, and my writing output is abysmal. I hoped I'd be finished with chapter 17 for TOTW long ago, but it's coming along at the pace of a dying slug. Which makes me feel guilty, which kills my enthusiasm, which makes me put off writing until it's late and my brain wants to shut down for the day.
Sometimes I think about writing something else, maybe posting something new here, but usually I end up not doing it because it's time and energy I could spend on something I should have finished ages ago. Probably that kind of thinking is only hurting things in the long run.
I've been through rough patches and dry spells before. One way or another I've gotten through them, even if it took longer than I hoped. I just have to tell myself I'll get through this one eventually.
On a more positive note:
* I'm close to filling up my second little sketchbook. This time I didn't clutter it with a bunch of warm-up doodles of circles and lines (I use scrap paper for that now).
* I've learned that someone in our neighborhood has goats and chickens. There's a sign that invites people to feed vegetable scraps to the critters. The goats and chickens get real excited when anyone comes near the fence, so it's like a petting zoo.
* On days when I go for a short walk, I try to remember to take a book with me so I can leave it in one of the Little Free Library boxes in the area. Usually I don't find anything I want, but last time there was a book of interest, Colored Pencil Solution Book by Janie Gildow and Barbara Benedetti Newton. I've got some colored pencils waiting to be used, so I grabbed it.
Most days I read, draw, and write at least a little. Technically I'm staying on top of the goals I set for myself, and yet it doesn't feel that way. I'm not reading as much as I used to, and my writing output is abysmal. I hoped I'd be finished with chapter 17 for TOTW long ago, but it's coming along at the pace of a dying slug. Which makes me feel guilty, which kills my enthusiasm, which makes me put off writing until it's late and my brain wants to shut down for the day.
Sometimes I think about writing something else, maybe posting something new here, but usually I end up not doing it because it's time and energy I could spend on something I should have finished ages ago. Probably that kind of thinking is only hurting things in the long run.
I've been through rough patches and dry spells before. One way or another I've gotten through them, even if it took longer than I hoped. I just have to tell myself I'll get through this one eventually.
On a more positive note:
* I'm close to filling up my second little sketchbook. This time I didn't clutter it with a bunch of warm-up doodles of circles and lines (I use scrap paper for that now).
* I've learned that someone in our neighborhood has goats and chickens. There's a sign that invites people to feed vegetable scraps to the critters. The goats and chickens get real excited when anyone comes near the fence, so it's like a petting zoo.
* On days when I go for a short walk, I try to remember to take a book with me so I can leave it in one of the Little Free Library boxes in the area. Usually I don't find anything I want, but last time there was a book of interest, Colored Pencil Solution Book by Janie Gildow and Barbara Benedetti Newton. I've got some colored pencils waiting to be used, so I grabbed it.
