Is it hard yet?

"Wasn't the plan, to not have cable, so that we would actually write?" My roommate askes me as I put the second DVD of the night in.
"Yes, but I am working." I reply as I pick up my knitting needles. So what if I'm not writing. Writing isn't my only interest, and it certainly isnt my only deadline of this month.

Deadlines are as follows:
Steam-punk Knitting Swap: Ship Date 8/31
Dragon Con Costuming Stuff: 9/1
Short Story Submission: 9/1 (actual submission deadline 10/31 but I want to have it finished so it can be critiqued and edited well before then)

Knitting is in alot of ways, much easier than writing. It is creating something, basically from nothing, but you almost always have a pattern, which tells you what to do when. If you dont, there are easy rules to follow, its all math. A few simple stitches to memorize, and the techniques are all pretty standard. Breaking the rules results in a finished object results in a object that doesn't stay finished for long, as it unfurls back into the state of yarn.

Stories are similar, there are rules, but those rules are a bit more flexible. I feel that I am both blessed and cursed. Telling stories comes fairly natural to me. Writing it down is a bit more difficult. Writing a good story takes work, and sometimes, even though I enjoy it, sometimes I dont want to do work.

Lately I've been in a bit of a funk, I haven't wanted to do anything. And once you let yourself have a break from doing, well, anything, its not easy to convince yourself to do something. So for the month of June/July I did very little, aside from paint, and unpack, and read and knit. Now its August, and I have a month left to finish a bunch of projects, and very little time, but more importantly, very little drive.

Dont get me wrong, I still believe I will quickly loose my sanity if I stop writing, I have a few scenes rolling around in my head, which I have written down. But I seem to have no motivation to really write. Maybe its the summer and the heat. Maybe I'm just feeling burnt out. I know I've gone through these periods before, and typically I just have to force myself to do something, anything and then I will get back in the rhythm of it.

Maybe I need to pick up the Jamie Todd Rubin--Red Bull a day habit and see if that kicks my ass into gear, and you should check out this mans blog, because he is inspirational. He seems to never have an unproductive moment.

I'm sitting here, trying to catch up on reading blogs and I saw that LG over at Bards and Prophets is pushing people here, which makes me feel wholly unworthy, since I haven't posted in over a week, far from my three times a week goal.

I have been very unproductive, hopefully I am pulling myself out of my slump, and can convince myself not to watch TV but actually write, that being said. I think its okay, to be unproductive on occasion.