Those days when forward progress bogs down on a project, when nothing on the To-do List gets addresseed but 10 more things get added to it (before lunch), when the handy and make-your-job-and-life-easier technology fails to live up to its hype and my expectations.
But lately I've been busy with a lot of stuff -- household chores, projects at work, obligations for my kids, finish the taxes, car repairs, class prep for a course I'll be teaching soon, this-that-and-the-other-thing stuff. I haven't gotten much fiction writing accomplished except for some short passages, anywhere from 150 to 800 words. But I've been taking care of some other writing assignments and moving them off the To-do List, so keeping moving sometimes pays off and keeps one from sinking down in the dumps.
In fact, while I was waiting for an appointment the other day, I wrote about 500 words for the opening of a new western short story. I felt pretty good about that. (By the way, the photo accompanying this post is purportedly a perpetual motion machine: The Finsrud Wheel, a moving sculpture built by Norwegian artist Reidar Finsrud.)
Some recent activity:
"Mangling the works of Jules Verne" is my latest contribution at Amazing Stories Magazine. You can find it here.
"Iron Men and Silver Stars: Donald Hamilton's western anthology" is my most recent post at The Spur & Lock Mercantile, my blog for All Things Western.
"Budapest Then and Then: Jules Verne and Robert B. Parker" is a review of two books from two very different authors. This is my most recent post at The Pulp Rack blog.
That's not so bad for a week's amount of extracurricular productivity.
So, if you're feeling bogged down, don't fret. You're not alone. Just keep moving.
