Patricia Stoltey

Author

The Days When Nothing Gets Done

By:

Yesterday was one of those days. The laundry did not get done. I knocked nothing off the To-Do list. I bought a supermarket salad for my husband’s dinner, and I ate yogurt with blueberries and granola.

Here’s why:

Yesterday morning, I spent too much time on e-mail. I read several chapters of a good mystery I’m reading for fun. At lunchtime, a friend and I met at a nearby restaurant. I talked to my 90-year-old mom on the phone for half an hour. Evening was reserved for my writers’ group meeting. And then, when it was nearly 10:00 PM, I suddenly realized I had not written a blog post for this morning.

So I sat down at the computer and with my fingers on the keyboard, thought a moment. Write post? Read book? Watch television? I began to type: “Yesterday was one of those days.”

You see where the rest of this post could have gone, don’t you. Infinite loop, same story over and over?

Here’s the rest of the story. All during the day yesterday, the next scene of my novel was bopping around in my head, bouncing off the walls, growing in energy. I saw the scene play out in my head. I liked it. I went to bed knowing what I would write about this morning, hoping that my subconscious would add more details as I slept. I was feeling pretty good.

Sometimes the days when nothing gets done are the best days of all.

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Comments

  2. I’ve had many, many days like this when nothing outward seems to get accomplished, but then as your head hits the pillow you realize that the next scene or a different plot point has now materialized. Nothing wrong with having a day like that – it pays off in so many ways.

    I hope the words flow.

  3. Oh, I’m so good at getting nothing done. If there were a World Series for blowing the day, I’d be the winner every year. Yesterday, for example, my peace and quiet was wrecked by a mean contractor. Sigh. Never really got back on track after an unpleasant phone duel. But, your day really did turn out great in the end. So, you did accomplish a lot. Good job!

    Best Regards, Galen
    Imagineering Fiction Blog