Day 2 - 179 -- Trusting the Process

Perhaps it was the grey overcast day. It was difficult to get down to major work today. I did the 'small' stuff like e-mail and processing admin details for fall courses. I had hoped to get well into working up course syllabuses (syllabi?) for the three fall courses. Early edits to one syllabus went fairly well. I had several conversations about two other courses that require major reworking for the fall offering. The latter need further conceptualization prior to getting things written clearly for student use. I was hungry and tired by late afternoon, so headed home to eat, rest and ponder the syllabus situation further.

In lectures, I've often noted to students that thinking through a paper to choose the main points that support an argument is still writing -- even if no actual words hit paper or word processing software pages. I do note that this isn't a way to rationalize procrastination, but a way to develop a paper more fully. I believe I was doing the latter today -- working through the concepts to present and thinking through the best order to use to present them. It is difficult to feel productive when there isn't something concrete to hold onto or point to. I  also have several other writing for publication projects underway and these aren't seeing much hit paper -- I do use pen and paper to make the detailed outline and then the sentences are written with the keyboard. So -- much is flying around my brain and it will soon make its way into a shareable format. Then why do I always feel like I've done nothing? <smile>.

Again, as others have told me in the past, I do need to reduce the self-flagellation. One good thing is that once I begin feeling stressed about the writing project and find myself wandering from office to office to say "hi", the actual sentence writing begins shortly after. I've thought of this as the brain's way to say that it is all ready to spew forth through my fingers <grin>. So -- one song seemed to fit for today, to remind me to be less frustrated with my work process. Relax and let things happen as they always do. Enjoy!

Be Good to Yourself -- Journey