Recovery--progress today after all

Same day as previous post--I ended up surprising myself and getting some work done anyway. About an hour of work, much like what I was planning to do next.

Worth noting, because it's way outside my usual routine and my conception of what I'm capable of. The solution occurred to me this afternoon while I was taking a quick walk. I was thinking to myself it's too bad that even when I have time to write and the afternoons and evenings that I can't take advantage because of my hangups about what frame of mind I need to be in.

It dawned on me that I might be able to generate that frame of mind. If I gave myself a few hours notice--if I said, I'm going to do xyz other errands and then eat dinner and then sit down to write--then I could maybe psyche myself up for it, put a limit on the attention I would give those other errands, try to clear my mind during dinner much in the way I do over breakfast. This might help go to the writing desk without "the weight of the day" that usual makes writing feel impossible after first thing in the morning.

And it worked. This one time, at least. It's not as comfortable, and it took some discipline, but it's progress. The trick was not just setting aside time but telling myself ahead of time that I had set aside time and that part of the deal was putting a little break between that and other work first.

Preferably, I don't need this trick at all. I just write in the morning first thing, and that's that, no problem. But when there is a problem, hopefully this will work.