On writing and (not) working
I just finished reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, which is subtitled "Instructions on Writing and Life." I picked it up because I needed something to read and I like the essays of hers that I've read on Salon.com. It was fun to read just because she's witty and funny and eminently quotable, but as a side effect it also made me want to write more. Hence yesterday's post about fruit (I had a Pink Lady as an after-work snack again today). I honestly don't know if I have a short story in me anymore, but after reading the book I'm sufficiently inspired to attempt to bang out 300 words a day of creative nonfiction or whatever the kids are calling it these days.
If nothing else, maybe it'll give my brain something to focus on other than what fun European thing I was doing three weeks ago at this time (traveling home from Paris on the Eurostar, in case you were wondering). My vacation seems to have ruined me for my real life. At least my job. At home I'm mostly diverted by the new gym and the slowly improving weather (60s and sunny today, hurrah!) and the fact that the local farmers markets are opening this week. But when I sit down at my desk, I lose all focus. This morning I attempted and abandoned at least three projects requiring varying levels of thought and attention, only to find myself on back on the Tribune website, or NPR, or Gaper's Block or Chicagoist or Goodreads.
The fact that the library is almost completely deserted because of the sparsely attended summer session doesn't help. It's like that tree-falling-in-a-forest conundrum--if I'm screwing around on the Internet and no one sees me, does it really mean I'm not working?
Thus far the only thing I can think of to do is keep starting new projects and hope something captures my attention. Sometimes it even works. After lunch today I started tinkering with the new website I'm "building" for the library* and managed to do almost two hours of actual work. Probably not the workday my boss had in mind for me, but compared to some recent afternoons, it felt like an accomplishment.
*This sounds way more impressive than it is. I had planned to completely overhaul the library website this summer, but my idea of having one of our web design students do the redesign was met with a resounding "no." Go figure. Along came a representative from our regional library system touting what I've taken to referring to as a "website in a box." Basically, a template designed for small (public) libraries. It's got some nice features, and it's pretty much the same interface as your average blog or wiki program (no more FTP sites or monkeying with FrontPage). So that's what I'm doing. It's pretty generic, and I'm a little afraid of what the students and faculty are going to think of the design, but there's only one of me. (Defensive, anyone?)
If nothing else, maybe it'll give my brain something to focus on other than what fun European thing I was doing three weeks ago at this time (traveling home from Paris on the Eurostar, in case you were wondering). My vacation seems to have ruined me for my real life. At least my job. At home I'm mostly diverted by the new gym and the slowly improving weather (60s and sunny today, hurrah!) and the fact that the local farmers markets are opening this week. But when I sit down at my desk, I lose all focus. This morning I attempted and abandoned at least three projects requiring varying levels of thought and attention, only to find myself on back on the Tribune website, or NPR, or Gaper's Block or Chicagoist or Goodreads.
The fact that the library is almost completely deserted because of the sparsely attended summer session doesn't help. It's like that tree-falling-in-a-forest conundrum--if I'm screwing around on the Internet and no one sees me, does it really mean I'm not working?
Thus far the only thing I can think of to do is keep starting new projects and hope something captures my attention. Sometimes it even works. After lunch today I started tinkering with the new website I'm "building" for the library* and managed to do almost two hours of actual work. Probably not the workday my boss had in mind for me, but compared to some recent afternoons, it felt like an accomplishment.
*This sounds way more impressive than it is. I had planned to completely overhaul the library website this summer, but my idea of having one of our web design students do the redesign was met with a resounding "no." Go figure. Along came a representative from our regional library system touting what I've taken to referring to as a "website in a box." Basically, a template designed for small (public) libraries. It's got some nice features, and it's pretty much the same interface as your average blog or wiki program (no more FTP sites or monkeying with FrontPage). So that's what I'm doing. It's pretty generic, and I'm a little afraid of what the students and faculty are going to think of the design, but there's only one of me. (Defensive, anyone?)
posted by Madame Defarge at 5:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home