Creative Procrastination 

Life is slowly returning to normal in my home office. Apart from frequent sneaky-peeks at CNN, I'm trying to regain my focus on the workload in my in-box. The calendar is screeching out deadlines that I don't really want to hear about at this time, but better I hear them now then the day before the article is due! 

Problem is that I've gone from a period of getting organized and motivated, through a period of dysfunction because of my computer being away for repair, then after a brief interlude of manic catching up I fell into a period of stunned disbelief and media addiction as the news unfolded of the terrorist attacks in the USA, and now - when I need to focus all my attention on getting my workload up-to-date - my creative muse has decided to make her presence known. 

I love my creative muse. I love her to sit beside me and inspire me. But at the moment I feel like a criminal when listening to her ideas because they are taking valuable time away from the work I need to complete. Being a work-at-home-mom is a great career but the demands on time are incredible. There are so many things that need to be doing that work time needs to be carefully scheduled so that family, housework and meals don't interfere. When something happens to upset the balance of that time-management I feel like a criminal for wasting precious work minutes on future schemes and ideas. 

There are times that I know I have to put these wonderful sessions with my muse down to internal procrastination. My mind isn't on what I'm supposed to do and so it creates a reasonable excuse for me to switch my creative energy onto something I prefer. Planning future ventures that will earn me more money than I could imagine is a great way of freeing my mind from the stresses of everyday life. Unfortunately I get paid for doing, and not dreaming!

So I'll have to be strict with myself. Make notes of these ideas the muse has given to me, and then send her on her way. Hopefully she wont be offended and will visit again when I'm not so far behind! 

Katie-Anne Gustafsson, 2001