Five Minutes by Misha Herwin

 

The weeks leading up to Christmas can feel full to bursting with things that must be done. There are presents to be bought and wrapped, cards to be sent, food to be organised. All this plus the usual domestic stuff can lead to a feeling of being overwhelmed and when there is so much to do, the temptation is to do nothing, or at least put whatever it is off until tomorrow.

Getting up late this morning, I shut the door on the unmade bed, the piles of clothes that needed putting away and concentrated on making breakfast before a scheduled Zoom call with a friend at 10. 30.

When he texted to say he was running late I realised I had five minutes spare and decided that these would be used productively. So instead of scrolling through social media I gave myself those five minutes to tackle the bedroom. And the job was done and one source of stress was eliminated.

While I was tidying I mused over applying the same concept to writing. Over the past few months, for various reasons, I have had very little time to work on my current novel. Since it is very much in the final editing stage this is proving to be very frustrating, so I have decided to apply the spare minute rule to see if I can finish the task. Short sharp bursts of work have been useful in the past, hopefully it will work again this time. If not I will have to find other ways of carving out the time and space.

In the meantime, I wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a productive New Year.