October, especially the second half of the month, was very low on the productivity scale. I’ve probably had my longest break from writing in a good few years. It wasn’t planned, I had a lot to see too and of all the elements in my life writing is the one where I can back off somewhat and not notice too much of a negative impact in life.

That said, I need to appreciate more how much not writing affects my mental health. Writing is a great, sometimes brutal, form of therapy for me. Not only does writing let me bleed onto the page, it also gives me a sense of achievement if I’m making progress on my projects.

To get back into the swing of things I’m going to scale back my expectations. Firstly I’m going to try for 20 minutes a day when I’m at work, and on days off aim for an hour.

It’s not just about time though, I need to think about how I’m spending that time. Working on the Penal Earth 2, which is a deep edit, isn’t feasible in a twenty minute session. Whereas the short story I’m handwriting at the moment I can make good progress in that small window of time. I might expand on it when going over it later, but I can make solid progress in that 29 minutes.

At the core of it all, I need to stop being inconsistent when it comes to writing. I think both for myself and writing looking at building a routine will do me the world of good.