February already!
Breaking news! I've added a Writing Tools & Tips page to my website. Check out the first of my favourite things - Scrivener.
Now back to your regular reading...
I read an article on why, as we get older, time seems to speed up. I'm sure only yesterday it was Christmas and today its already February. What happened to the in between?
When I was a still a child, time seemed to drag. School holidays went almost forever and the school term certainly did. Christmas to Christmas was such a long gap of time as to be practically unimaginable. Now they flash by so fast I can barely keep up.
Apparently it has a lot to do with retrospection, new experiences, learning and activity, and routine. From a completely unscientific view, I think routine is a major factor. When we do the same things all the time, we quickly learn how to do them on autopilot: we stop thinking about them. When we stop thinking, time goes past without us realising it. When we come back to the here and now, we experience the elapse of time with something of a start. How did that last hour go so quickly? or worse, how did that last week/month/year pass with such speed. The same can occur when we spend longer than we meant to on the computer or watching television (or reading or really, any one activity that lasts a long time and takes up all our attention).
December and January are busy months for most people. The rush of getting ready for Christmas and then surviving Christmas day can be overwhelming. If we're old enough to have developed a routine, then we may find ourselves switching to autopilot to get through it.
For me, December is followed by a very busy January as well. Work is so busy and so involving that the day whizzes by and when I get home (especially when it's so very hot as it was this January), I tend to flake out on the lounge with the television going to stop me thinking about work. Luckily, someone is on hand to feed and water me! As a result, February is here and January already seems a dim memory, and I'm sure that before I know it December will be knocking at my door waiting to take over life as I know it once more.
The good thing with having January done and dusted though is that I can move full steam ahead on my writing. I've been plodding away over the last few weeks and now plan to move it along a little faster. I've also been reading up on how to write faster so fingers-crossed I'll have my next novel finished by the end of the month (I'm sure my publisher would be happy to hear that).
I've found some great books to read (my life hasn't been all work and no play) so will have a few reviews coming your way soon too. Next week, If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura. An interesting read for sure!!
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