Blog Note: Schedule Change

From now on until the proverbial foreseeable, TOP will publish on weekdays. "Open Mike" will appear on Fridays and I think I'll do a camera or tech post on Mondays.

I'm going to experiment with taking (gasp!) the whole weekend off.

Well, not "off" exactly.

I'm trying to write a book.

I used to visualize the various types of personal energy as a series of reservoirs (which for some odd reason I pictured as being cylindrical and made of glass and filled with colored transparent liquid, like water with food coloring in it, but never mind that). They are steadily filled at varying rates from the top and can be tapped from the bottom. When completely full the pressure builds up and needs to be relieved or you might bust the glass and make a mess. And you have energy for specific types of things. Physical exertion, sex, socializing, studying, multitasking, memorizing, creativity, whatever—the amounts depending on your individual psychology and physiology, aptitudes, habits and practices and history, health and fitness of mind or body.

I first started thinking this way when I was teaching (I taught for a few years in the '80s). I found that teaching photography to high school students did not drain my intellectual or emotional or physical reservoirs at all; but it completely slammed what I called “attentiveness.” Whatever faculty is called upon to pay close, considered, responsive attention to the needs and issues and situations of 50 students, such that you can meet everyone where they are with full attention when called upon, each by turn, often having to "change gears" suddenly...that reservoir got repeatedly drained all the way. It dawned on me (I was 27 when I started teaching) why teachers need a lot of time off: it’s not because they’re “tired” in any conventional sense. It’s because the reservoir for attentiveness gets drained dry and needs time to recharge every now and then.

I found the imbalance striking and vivid at the time…one type of personal energy being drained at the same time other types essentially weren’t being touched at all. It was a weird variant of "tired."

Anyway, I’d have no trouble writing a book if I weren’t writing TOP. But I only have so much writing energy. If I don't write at all, the need gets pent-up and the pressure builds, and I need to give it an outlet; but if I do it too much, I don't have enough left in the tank for other projects.

Writers are all different. Hemingway worked six hours a day painstakingly crafting 500 words; Stephen King thinks if a full-time writer can't knock off 2,000 words every day of the year he or she is not trying very hard. I guess I'm somewhere in between.

So the plan is, take Saturdays completely off, work on the book on Sundays on a full day's rest, and write the blog during the week.

No telling if this will last. Just giving it a try.

Mike Yer 'Umble 'Ost
(Thanks to Ctein)

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

No featured comments yet—please check back soon!

Comments

[Marcelo Guarini]

May the force be with you, good luck.

[Jim Bullard]

BTDT on teaching. Classroom time is the "performance" part of teaching. It is a lot like other performance arts in that the preparation time has to exceed the performance time or you will suck as a teacher. Initially, it has to exceed the classroom time by a lot. Eventually, you get it down to a set of repeatable presentations that you modify according to changes in technology, the needs of your students, etc., but there is still prep time. People who think teachers are overpaid should try it some time.

[Michael]

Good plan, Mike! I look forward to both book and continued blog, and will therefore quell my urge to check in on weekends.

I used to have two reservoirs -- one life/teaching, the other research/writing -- but sometime in my sixties the valve between them was left open and now I can't get the damned thing shut. So it's either one or the other with me now.

[Daniel]

If you write the book see if you can work in Lucas Davenport or Virgil Flowers... ;-)

[Wayne]

And what day will you reserve for announcing general changes to administration of TOP? :)

[Patrick]

I suspect I won't be the only one to say this, but whatever it is about, I'll buy it (well, unless it is about pool).

[Romano Giannetti]

The teacher tiredness thing --- I will cite that. This is a nice explanation why I will really relax off-semester by doing research (or trying to) during more clock hours than I use for my teaching tasks. Attentiveness and the feeling of responsibility (in teaching, evaluating, organizing) of the well being of other people, it's often really tiring. Thanks for putting it into words.

[Jim Roelofs]

Dear Ed. please consider writing in your own time as my morning coffee time happens 24/7.

On second thought, 2 days worth of withdrawal symptoms might might be manageable. I'll give it a try.

Good luck with the word smithing thingie, Mike

[Bryce Lee]

If succesful you shall have joined the
POETS club.
Push
Off
Early,
Tomorrow
(is)
Saturday and Sunday in your case.

Publishing a regular blog posting can drain one's physical and mental resources. Then too you
are aging, in your own way, sadly. The dogs need time without you on the computer, and there are probably some days you let the dogs out in the morning, grab a warm beverage, and return to bed.
Then too it is tourist season where you dwell; the area is about to become hectic for two or three months.
All good reasons to make T.O.P. a Monday to Friday position.

[Michael McKee]

Good on ya, Mike for writing a book. My hands shouldn't be shaking too hard by the time you post shows up in my RSS on Monday.

[BigHank53]

I was going to ask if you were writing fiction or non-fiction, but I realized that (a) it's none of my business, and (b) you'll let us know either way.

Best of luck, and may your muse be always cheerful.

[Trecento]

Good for you, Mike. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm wishing you the best of luck!

[Dave]

I love Steven Pressfield's book The War of Art in that he talks about writers needing to write, every day, like a real job.

Cool stuff.

Good luck with your book!

[Bill Mitchell]

I suggest that you make "Open Mike" on Thursday.