Last Tuesday (when I intended to post this) I had a full day to write.

I did not write. Except for this, which is an after thought after not writing all day.

The fact is (i.e. my excuse) is that it was not a restful day conducive to writing. The roofers were here at 7:30 (necessary repairs after wind damage last month). I took a day off from work to be home for the pets—one dog, one cat—and to be here in case anyone fell through the roof (an improbable scenario, which did not occur, but would have made for an interesting day and another excuse not to write).

Once the pets had begun to cope, I made a light breakfast and decided to settle down to write—right after watching the episode of Lucifer I had DVR’d. When I finally turned on my computer, I decided that my files needed a spring cleaning. I commenced reorganizing and deleting files, then moved on to organizing the paper notes, drafts, and scrapes of stories that had piled up for the last few months, give or take a year. Intent: a cleaner, well-organized work space would make a better environment in which to write.

I broke out the new box of file folders I recently purchased. (Truly productive procrastination requires preparation.) Next I had to decide what the different pastel colors would signify. I settled on yellow for to do/new ideas; blue for working/drafts and revisions; green for stories written and ready to submit, and pink for anything in the romance genre. I read, sorted, labeled folders. I got hungry, fixed lunch, ate it while watching and old movie called Cottage to Let with John Mills and Alastair Sim—a British WWII spy/sleuth story, which was quiet silly. So, of course, I needed something more satisfying before settling down to write.

Two PBS specials later, the roofers had finished and gone. I swept the driveway for stray nails to avoid a flat tire, then went out grocery shopping. On the way home, I decided to write a post about procrastination. This is not it. I have not written it yet. These notes simply record the events that gave me the idea to write such a post, but notes were all I had time to write. By the time I got these down, it was late and time for my daily thirty minutes on the treadmill before dinner. Then there was making dinner, eating dinner, watching The Flash, Agents of Shield, Limitless, and the pilot for Containment. By then, it was time for bed.

Thus ended a day of successfully not-writing.

My next post (or perhaps the one after that), some time or another, possibly next week: Productive Procrastination.