I’ve hit one of those lulls in productivity recently that we all get from time to time. In part this has come from needing to take a breath from the sheer pace of short stories every day. I’m sure there are those on my social media feeds who are glad of the  respite. 

That said, I am still writing things every day. I’m just learning to not beat myself up if they aren’t complete (or even coherent) pieces. I’ll likely do a few fiction fragment posts for some of them rather than labelling them as complete items. The goal of the challenge is to write every day, so while I would prefer to create whole pieces at a time, I have to be realistic about my time, energy, and other commitments.

I’m also forcing myself, on a related note, to be kinder to myself when my weird and wonderful brain decides to go non-linear for a while – mostly because that isn’t helping as I ebb and flow between having focus and energy, and dullness and lethargy.

I have also had to admit to myself, in the same virtual breath, that my tendency recently to write stories and blogs purely on my phone has been hamstrung a little. My recent retinopathy test highlighted that my diabetes is now starting to affect my eyesight, so I forced myself to have my first eyetest this last weekend.

Whether it’s due to diabetes or age, I now know that I need reading glasses – at least for close-up writing and drawing – which explains some of the blurriness and throbbing aches in my eyeballs I’ve had recently. One big gulp and a perusal of frames later, we put in an order…

When they’re delivered, I’ll no doubt post a reasonably appropriate selfie and start practicing my “angry writer/library manager” glaring over the top of his spectacles pose.

In the meantime I shall continue my current side amusement of posting pictures on Instagram and Twitter of the covers of books that have caught my attention. They can be found on Twitter under @timmaidment and Instagram as ludd72 – come take a look.