During the past week I've been a little overwhelmed with work and I've neglected my journal. That isn't surprising, but as I think about it, the actual reason for the neglect may be.

In the past I've always figured that more time spent on work means less time to spend on writing and have often bemoaned my lack of writing time. But I'm coming to realize that lack of time isn't the major issue.

Sure, it would take a bit longer to write a whole novel doing it in between work rather than full-time, but when I start to get really busy, I end up not writing at all. I fail to use even the time I do have.

Partly it might just be lack of stamina (or laziness depending on your point of view) but, more than that, when I spend much of the day concentrating on statutory regulation of condominium declarations, I simply don't feel inspired to shift immediately to working on a mystery novel or a blog entry. Which is to say, I don't have any ideas that want to be written down.

When I was in school I spent half my time daydreaming. I learned to sit in the back of the room and keep my gaze turned toward the teacher so as to give the appearance of being in the classroom even if I wasn't. Still, from time to time, I would be startled to hear someone calling out my name while I strolled around the Martian desert.

For me, writing requires a lot of daydreaming. Probably that's one of the reasons I find it appealing. But, of course, one can't be daydreaming at work, even while working at home.

I'll have to work on this problem, although I'm not sure exactly how. When left to wander, my mind seems to come up with ideas on its own. We are all so rushed these days, forever dealing with this and reacting to that. Probably all of us need more time to daydream.