I had no work to do yesterday. None. Well, about ten minutes' worth. That was it.

So, I thought, it was an ideal opportunity for me to get some writing done.

Between 9:30 and 11:30, I wrote about 50 words.

Now, I've been fighting some writer's block. I'm not sure what's causing it, but it's there all the same. I can even feel the rest of the story (only two more chapters, for petesake!) waiting in the back of my head. I know what's going to happen. I just can't get it to go.

So this is the kind of writer's block that you just have to work through. What I have to do is write down the action and the resolution and the conclusion - and not pay attention to the fact that the style... isn't. Ignore the horrible writing and just. Get. It. Out.

And once I've accepted that, once I've made myself start doing that, hopefully the rhythm of it will all come back and the writing will be less horrible. At least, that's worked in the past. And then I can go back and edit or re-write the horrible bits.

But I'm not going anywhere if it takes me two hours to write fifty words. Why was it taking so long?

I have a bad. Bad. BAD habit.

Minesweeper.

I used to play the damn game for hours on end - literally - in grad school. Lately, it's something that I do whenever I'm waiting for something. When I'm on a conference call and there's nothing happening worth paying attention to, I fire up Minesweeper. When there's only ten minutes before a meeting and I don't have any little fast work that can be done, I fire up Minesweeper. When I'm chatting on IRC and waiting for someone to respond to what I've said, I fire up Minesweeper.

When I'm writing and I've gotten stuck and I'm not sure how to say what comes next... Yeah.

Which honestly wouldn't be too much of a problem if I'd play one game and get back to it. Even if I played until I won a game, and then got back to work, it wouldn't be that big of a deal - I'm really, really good at Minesweeper. (I recently started playing without using the flags, just to make it a little more challenging.)

But I don't. The little "new game" button is just too convenient. Click, click, boom! Click. Click, click, click... It's hypnotic, and I just keep playing.

I finally deleted the freaking shortcut from my Start menu, sometime after lunch.

I kept absentmindedly, compulsively, trying to play. Without even intending to! Start. Programs. Accessories. Games... Hey, where's-- Oh, yeah. Right.

At least half a dozen times, I did that.

After I deleted my easy access to the game, I wrote 300 words in two hours. Which is still no great shakes, but it's a hell of an improvement over 50. Recognizing that you have a problem is half the battle.

Hi. My name's Liz, and I'm a Minesweeper addict. (Hi, Liz!)

--Liz