Blogging and Bad Time Management

I have at least an hour to write. I drop the laptop onto the bed, grab a glass of water and sit down. I turn on the video monitor and watch my son rolling back and forth in his crib hugging his lovey and winding up his stuffed giraffe. He’s not asleep yet, but I wore him out this morning at the playground and he’ll be asleep soon. That will give me at least an hour to write, maybe even more.

Hmm, I’m feeling a bit hungry. Maybe I should go downstairs and make a snack before I start writing. Just something quick, nothing fancy. I pull together a very sad cheese sandwich and cut up an apple, but it’s tough to eat and type. So maybe I should just watch five minutes of television while I eat and then sit down to write.

I turn on a prerecorded cooking show and watch part of one recipe before calling it quits. Back upstairs to write. Except when I open the laptop I see my email staring back at me. A couple of birthday emails I should really respond to.

Okay, thanks for all of the birthday wishes, what’s new, how’s life, good to catch up and now I’m back to business. I close that browser tab and see my RSS feeds staring back at me. I might as well scan through those. The list contains seventy new articles, but only five or six worth reading. I click on them, scan the details, decide if it’s worth reading from start to finish and then move onto the next.

All finished with that, good. Now I should really get back to writing. Except I’m not feeling particularly inspired today. I’m writing as part of one of those 30 day, force-yourself-to-write-it-down goals, but my mind is drawing a blank.

I check the monitor, my son is still asleep. I have at least thirty minutes before he wakes up. Oh, but I forgot about dinner. I haven’t defrosted anything and I have no idea what I’m going to make. I should search for something new to make with the ingredients on hand. This one looks tasty, but now I have to walk into the basement to defrost the chicken.

That won’t take more than a minute, but along the way I see the mail has arrived. I might as well sort the mail, rip open the envelopes, figure out what needs to be addressed and recycle the spam. Finished with that and off to the basement, but it seems the cat has thrown up all over the floor. Yup I should clean that up and might as well clean the litter before heading back upstairs.

Throw the chicken in a pan of water to defrost and head back upstairs. Maybe I can’t concentrate because my bed is too comfy. I should sit at the kitchen table. I’ll be more productive there. The murmur of our ancient refrigerator is humming into my ear. I turn on the video monitor. My son is still asleep. I don’t know if he’ll sleep for a few more minutes or a whole hour.

What should I do with him when he wakes up? Maybe I should pull some items out of our craft drawer. No, focus. Sit here and write. But my mind draws a blank and then it races with the idea that I’ve wasted all of this time doing a whole lot of nothing when I could have gotten a bunch of things accomplished. I could have prepared dinner or read a few chapters of the book that’s been sitting idle on my nightstand. I could’ve called the babysitter over to keep an eye on my son while I took a long walk and enjoyed the fresh air all alone. I could have spent the last hour writing.

Okay, stop getting so frustrated. It’s time to write. Focus on the task at hand. The prior hour was wasted but there is no reason not to get to work now.

I look at the video monitor. My son is starting to stir. He’ll be up soon. Dinner is not ready, the house has not been cleaned, my book has not been read and I have not written anything worthy of posting, but I’m clicking publish anyway.

Does this happen to anyone else? Tell me I’m not alone!