Hard at work? Or working too hard?

I think I may be pacing myself too hard. I spend six hours straight on the computer on my days out of class (Tuesday and Thursday) catching up on work. I’m in the zone when I do it, so it’s a good thing, but the tunnel vision makes me disoriented the next morning when I have to go to work and teach those classes. It’s almost like standing up in front of a class with Zoom going is a vacation from those days of extreme focus.

It feels good to accomplish things, though. That’s the reason for the focus — it’s rewarding. It’s getting me moving, accomplishing. It’s what I like to do.

But maybe I should learn to relax more. Maybe I should get back into meditation (although that’s hard with a kitten who likes licking my nostrils.) Something to just shut off my brain …

Not doing that again.

I’m still done with NaNo. And my brain is fried.

Five hours a day editing seemed really rational while I was doing it, but I feel like half the month has passed without me really noticing. (It’s only one third of the month.) I’ve managed to get all my “work-work” done during that time period, strangely enough.

I’ve promised to continue doing NaNo, but only two hours a day. Maybe. If I can manage it.

Now back to final read of Gaia’s Hands, which has turned out to be far, far better than it was on first writing.

Post-semester crash, or "My brain shut down".

(Note: I love the Victorian way of titling books with the “or” in the middle, such as Syphilis, or the French Disease). So I decided to try it.

My brain, in a word, is empty right now. It’s a form of inertia. It’s what happens if I spend two weeks laser-focused on getting final projects and exams graded — and I fun out of grades. Like I’m plowing a field, but then I run out of field and crash face-first into a wall.

I’m trying to write on a story, any of my stories, editing, scheduling, ANYTHING.

But my brain seems incapable of creating right now.

I hope it comes back soon.