The (dis)proof is in the (extremely delayed) posting.


So there I was, writing about the fact that I'm in need of some ongoing background noise in order for me to actually accomplish something, and expecting that whatever readers these pages have would actually believe me. And yet it was also glaringly obvious to me that as I wrote I was quite clearly disproving my own claim - even to myself.

During the two or three weeks before the U.S. elections - the period during which I tried to devote myself to this column - I found myself highly, almost totally, unproductive. I'd occasionally step outside of myself and gaze down and find that I'd become totally absorbed, above and beyond what I had time for, in the minutia of election-related "news" which, I had to admit was primarily gossip. I certainly wasn't doing anything that might affect the outcome of the election, but that didn't stop me from gobbling down whatever snippets of information, or more to the point, juicy stories, were being posted on the various sites I frequent.

In other words, although I was allowing myself to be distracted, the short-term distractions that I was allowing myself weren't being reprocessed into a return to productivity. They were simply distractions that caused my mind to wander, further and further, from the task at hand. Were I a real writer I might have been able to call this writer's block, but instead I was simply absorbed by noise that rather than generating productivity led me into a state of do-nothing-ness.

The conclusion should be obvious. Readers should relate to this column as a classic example of "do as I say", not "do as I do".



Go to: It's too quiet here - I can't think.