On Being Unproductive

Today I realized that if I had a television in my bedroom I'd never get out of bed on the weekend.

I'm the Queen of Unproductive Weekends!

I'm busy y'all. I commute almost two hours every day to my full time day job, I run The Brainy Bookshelf, I'm finishing up book one while writing book two of my Turgor series, I'm the adoptive mother of a 5-month old puppy and two cats and we can't forget about being the wife of my lovely husband.

Don't get me wrong, I love what I do so I'm not complaining. But I've been noticing that my weekends are full of me doing everything but checking off things on my to-do list. I found myself wondering what was up with that??

I've come to the conclusion that my mind is rebelling against weekend productivity as a fail safe to being burnt out. I sleep A LOT on the weekends. I do a few chores (maybe) and then proceed to spend time with friends, my husband or my pets. In short, I give myself a rest from the crazy pace of the week. 

So why am I telling you all this?

I know as indie authors it's hard. You see authors like Amanda Hocking and think to yourself "What am I doing wrong? Maybe I'm not working hard enough!" That's not the case, folks. The indie road to success is long, hard and full of realizing that hindsight is a five letter word. Realize that it’s *ok* to be unproductive and give yourself some downtime. It’s actually good for you!

The next time you sit at your desk/on your couch/in your favorite coffee shop staring at a blank piece of paper and you begin to feel as though you may spontaneously combust at any moment, remember that unplugging, living your life and setting aside your writing for a brief time may just be what the doctor ordered.

“Pray thee, spare, thyself at times: for it becomes a wise man sometimes to relax the high pressure of his attention to work.” –Thomas Aquinas

“Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.” –John Lennon