Productivity, The Elusive

Oh, productivity. You are as elusive as the ice cream man when I am craving an artificially colored, novelty-shaped popsicle. Sometimes I can hear you, but I can't see you -- and that's as helpful to me as subscribing to weather reports for cities in which I don't live.

I heard that people do this. I'm not talking about myself or anything.

I was trying oh-so-hard to work on The Fracture of a Dream while I was out of town last month, but I have to confess it really didn't work. Every day, there were other things I had to do. E-mails to answer, errands to run, people to see, requests for other urgent work to be completed...

I'm sure you know what I mean.

Even when I'm trying to write in the comfort of my own home, I struggle with the other tasks that come up. Many people don't understand that I am working (and that I do not answer phone calls or reply to e-mails during that time) and make demands on me to complete some unnecessary task or another. They perceive their work to take priority over my own.

I'm even guilty of abusing my e-mail's vacation auto-responder to pretend I am away on delightful trips when I'm actually not. ("Just leave me alone" is a little rude, you see.) I do still want to have friends, family, and colleagues once I am done with my current writing project.

Aside from using productivity software such as RescueTime (I used this while completing my doctoral dissertation) to hold me accountable for my time, I've had trouble sticking to a set-in-concrete writing schedule. Sometimes, as much as I hate errands and other small jobs, they must be done.

Anyone out there in Internetland have some advice for me?

Ren D.