One more week to the books, literal and figuratively. I've been working towards making the summer book happen. It has been a learning experience getting to work with a printer partner, talking about papers, bindings, printing techniques and volumes. I have been having fun, and I'm looking forward to producing it soon.
However, not all the week was like that. I guess not all the weeks can be positive weeks. There must be some downs to enjoy the ups, and slow moments that remind us to savor when things are moving smoothly, when creativity is flowing. I had some days like that too.
Imagine a week in which every evening is a Sunday evening and every morning a Monday morning. The feeling as the day comes to an end that next day is Monday. And like that on repeat. Never ending. Dreadful. Feeling that anxiety that we all have felt before: getting back to the infinite to-do list, the routine meetings, the slow-moving morning. Slow as slow were the mornings back in school waiting for the bell to ring and go out to play during the break. Then slow again, until the last ring to go back home. This last week felt like that.
I'm not sure why sometimes we have that kind of day. Bleh days. When it seems that the time moves in a different speed than usual, as if we changed from seconds to minutes, and minutes to hours. Time is passing by slowly. Painfully slowly. With the task at hand taking longer than it should have, the ideas slipping from the mind, and creativity, or what's left of it, dripping away from the brain.
I associate the slow bleh days with a feeling of being stuck, as if those days would be a sticker that even after removing it, I spend more days cleaning and removing the glue that was left behind. Days that end with a feeling of running in a rat's wheel, no matter how fast or how much work I put in, I don't move.
But even the worst of the worst Mondays don't last forever. It was a long one, but by Wednesday evening the creativity and positive mindset were back. I was able to get back to work on interesting projects, ship code for clients, and foster creativity by reading, thinking about my upcoming book, editing photos from a short trip to Germany, and even working on an upcoming shop section (more on this in future issues).
As I look back to the week, I can say that I've been busy during the second half of it. I've been building more tools, internal tools for myself: a custom CRM/finance system to get Tyn studio rock solid and moving steadily, improved the service on Inbox To Kindle to help more of my users receive their newsletters in their kindle and ereaders (give it a try), and have been pushing more code for clients. So overall it was a productive week. It just took some time to get it up to speed. Bleh days still happen. I'm sure they will keep happening, as Mondays are a constant like a mosquito flying close to the ear on a warm summer night. However, with some movement, and looking from time to time to the big picture they fade away.
It's Monday again, but today I'm looking forward to it. Catching up with friends, working with the publisher to get the book going, finalizing setting up the shop, and setting up something special for everyone who has been reading me for more than a year.
Quick one: are you a survive-the-Monday type or a love-Mondays type? hit reply and let me know, I'm curious. Stay in and survive the Monday!
