{"id":301,"date":"2016-02-15T12:56:07","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T17:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=301"},"modified":"2016-02-15T12:56:07","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T17:56:07","slug":"snow-day-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/02\/15\/snow-day-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Snow Day Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s snowing again\u00a0in Northern Virginia. \u00a0There’s not much accumulation, mind you, but a friend of mine pointed out how oddly we Northern Virginians react to snow. \u00a0As he says, we know that it’s going to snow every year, and yet it still manages to catch us off guard.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2665\"<\/p>\n

And this might be true because everyone around here works so hard they’re probably just praying for some time off, but I think this concept applies to writing (and life) quite well.<\/p>\n

When you’re writing toward a target, there will always be snow days that could derail you. \u00a0And you’ll say,<\/p>\n

“Oh my goodness, how did this happen? I’m so surprised I probably can’t write today!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps you do need a break. \u00a0After all, snow days can be great for your mental health.\u00a0But most likely, you saw this coming, and you really shouldn’t be surprised. Writing “snow days” \u00a0vary by person. \u00a0For me, the perennial distraction is time. \u00a0If I have less than an hour to work, I’ll end up wasting that time because I usually\u00a0convince myself that one hour couldn’t be possibly enough time to get a productive amount of writing done. \u00a0After all, I need my coffee, and then I need to get comfy; finding a good playlist next is a must<\/em>, especially\u00a0before I even begin\u00a0thinking<\/em> about creativity, and by then the coffee is either gone or cold, so it’s time to\u00a0make another cup…<\/p>\n

For me,\u00a0a one hour window of time is just like snow descending upon the East Coast. \u00a0It’s going to happen again and again, and I probably should\u00a0have seen it coming at least a day in advance. Therefore, I can either assume a certain stance, buckle down, and use that time to write (sans<\/em> second cup of coffee) or I could be so surprised by the mere notion of\u00a0free time that I end up wasting it all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here’s to stocking up on milk and bread; Have a happy snow day!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n

Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2016\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s snowing again in Northern Virginia. There’s not much accumulation, mind you, but a friend of mine pointed out how oddly we Northern Virginians react to snow. As he says, we know that it’s going to snow every year, and yet it still manages to catch us off guard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2,12,17,21,29,46,1,50],"tags":[60,61,113,176,200,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/12\/parentheses\/","url_meta":{"origin":301,"position":0},"title":"Parentheses","date":"January 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's how it worked: I'd play through and etude, and 90% of it was okay, but then I'd get to that 10% where the shit would hit the fan. I avoided utter embarrassment by employing the musical equivalent of cursing under your breath so that your mother can't hear you\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Mountains\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1113,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/05\/09\/vocabularied-egos\/","url_meta":{"origin":301,"position":1},"title":"Vocabularied Egos","date":"May 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When you find yourself truculently bedighting your scrivenery with inimical prose, serried and thick as chaparral; I, for one, recommend elision instead. Otherwise, your writing may appear solecistic, and you, as a writer, solipsismal.","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":354,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/02\/29\/what-music-do-you-listen-to-when\/","url_meta":{"origin":301,"position":2},"title":"What music do you listen to when...","date":"February 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When the time comes to edit, and I have to pour over my manuscript with an eye for the minutiae, I need music that keeps me from throwing my keyboard or getting in such a bad mood I start needlessly deleting content. This music is always Rachmaninoff, because Russians are\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Music\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}