July 7, 2025
What is your favorite way to waste time? (be non-productive)
Bird watching? Long walks? Does it help your writing?
What was the saying? Idle hands are the devil’s playground? I haven’t heard that for a long time, thank heavens. Because having free time is good for the creative process. I’ll come back to that.
Oddly enough, there are times I feel like I have less free time now that I am retired than I did when I was working. It took me time to realize that with no structure to my structure to my schedule, it’s easy to accomplish nothing. I’ve developed a severe case of I’ll-get-around-to-it-ivness.
I’m working on it with a mental list of things that need to be done. But there’s nothing holding me to it except my own determination. Some days, I’m short on that.
I’ve developed some new time wasters.
Bird watching was never my thing. But it’s interesting how many varieties of birds I see in my yard. I think we are on a migratory route and I’ll spot an unusual species occasionally. Once, I spotted a downy woodpecker pecking at the railing on my deck. On a regular basis, there are grackles and cardinals and wrens in my yard. This year, I added several kinds of orioles to my list. (I even put up an oriole feeder this year. I’ve had a hummingbird feeder for several years.) Sadly, I haven’t spotted my neighborhood ravens this year.
Another new time-waster is the time I spend dead-heading my outdoor flowers, so they will bloom longer. That’s a summer-only activity, of course. Doing yard work is productive, but does nothing to add to my word count. Or does it?
While I’m deciding which branches on my quince bush need to be cut away from the house, I may be wondering how many people know what an Army blanket looks like? Do I call it an Army blanket in my story, or describe it as being olive green and made of wool and scratchy? And what is the difference between a pine tree and a fir? More importantly, how does my protagonist deal with the senator’s son hiding out in the mountains? And cutting branches may be a metaphor for the word trimming I am doing mentally.
So, I don’t believe that being non-productive is a waste of time. It refreshes the brain and allows creative juices to flow.
What is your favorite way to waste time? Check out other authors’ responses by following the links below.
And, as always, until next time, please stay safe!
July 7, 2025
What is your favorite way to waste time? (be non-productive) Bird watching? Long walks? Does it help your writing?
Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.
