0014: I wrote a blog instead
On getting work done
I tried writing a newsletter today.
I tried it at the breakfast table with my toddler playing around me. I’m finding it impossible. I can do ‘colouring’ in this kind of location, but not writing
This reminds me of a reframe by Dilbert Cartoonist Scott Adams.
Old Frame: I have writer’s block
New Frame: This is not a good location for writing.
He goes on to talk about how finding the right environment might just be the solution. Being stuck or constraint physically seems to constrain the mind as well.
Anyway I was going to give up and write a blog instead. A blog is more free flow, I write about the failure and struggles. In the newsletter I try to write about triumphs and quick solutions.
*I stand up walk around the table, shake my body a little, and sit down*
The real lesson here is: I do my best writing when left alone and uninterrupted. I can get that by waking up early, 3-4am is best. I did not do that today.
Even though the situation today is not ideal for writing, I’m still ploughing away at it. And I appreciate being here in the midst of family.
Old Frame: I’m only going to work it perfectly optimised situations
New Frame: I’m going to produce the best I can in today’s circumstance.
Maybe the best is slower. Maybe the thoughts are not as well organised. I embrace my limitations. And I’m willing to do the ugly work, to get the work done.
Now that I have some words I’m tempted to keep going and try to turn this into a newsletter.
But I’m going to end soon instead.
A blog is a piece of writing you read at your own risk.
A newsletter is something I take a risk with, interrupting what you are doing to send you a well polished idea. I risk an unsubscription and cancellation. I need to work everyday, but I don’t need to take that risk.
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I have written a couple of notes on the phone, in a todo app. Asking and answering questions to get to an outline. this has indeed worked well. The Question is the hardest part of writing.
I wrote my most recent newsletter on the phone (in Word, not the Substack app) and then edited it later on the laptop. This meant minimum annoying of the cat who likes to come have a cuddle in the mornings. (Not quite the equivalent of a small child, but ours are now big teenagers, so give us a lot more space!) And I am finding my thoughts flow quite well that way. I have done that a few times while on a train, too, as it's so much easier than getting the laptop out. I read somewhere about someone who wrote a whole novel on their phone during their morning commute.
(All that is to say... have you tried writing on your phone in those situations – though maybe you already were.)