You only discover the value of time when you have too much of it.
Right now I’m sitting in the living room of my mother’s childhood home which is still owned by my grandma, but inhabited by my uncle and aunt and their three daughters. It’s usually very loud in here, because one of the three daughters is always there, playing with noisy toys or talking or crying and needing attention. Their mother sometimes is around too. When other relatives are visiting, I’m required to greet them, listen to their little life stories or at least be there. We sit around the massive table, talking, laughing, eating cookies … yesterday we were drinking mulled wine too.
(As a side note: Good to feel that you belong to the adults’ circle now! Although it’s perhaps wrong to define membership through whether you are allowed to drink alcohol or not …)
So I ask myself: Where can I find a calm place to write and be creative without any noisy distractions? I haven’t found an answer yet, but I’m improvising and doing my best to create and seize the chance of short windows of silence. For example, they are now visiting my grandmas friend (who has cancer), but my family stayed at home. So I’m just preparing for a nice calm session of writing up posts and continuing my novel “Feuerroter Irrsinn”.
I’m very grateful for this little window of time, of good conditions for being creative. The last few days I’ve spent sitting in front of the screen, posting at a manga board, stalking other people’s threads, doing very little myself and thus getting crankier and crankier. I’m so glad that I’ve recognized that I need to change something in order to get something done. I’m in the middle of changing my work conditions and doing my best to be successful.
I can do it! This is the best time of the year to get projects done that have been lying around for ages … I’m doing my best, and that’s all what counts, after all. However, it’s important to remember what I should and shouldn’t do in order to keep up the good conditions. Here is the list:
- I should go for a walk at least once a day.
- I should only turn on the computer when I have something special to do.
- I shouldn’t let boredom take over my thoughts. There is always something useful to do, even if I don’t feel like it.
- I shouldn’t let myself be distracted by interesting threads, sites or stories I have nothing to do with when in fact I want to work on some of my own projects.
- I should think of posting for RPGs, writing and coming up with characters and storylines as pleasure – rather than work.
- I should only work on projects that totally intrigue and absorb me.
- I should have fun with and be proud of my creative projects.
- I shouldn’t be afraid to say ‘no’ to others when the project has lost its magic.
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Thanks for the great blog.