Waste some time. You’re worth it.

This is quite fun, if you want to waste a few seconds...

Writers' displacement activities...

...or rather, mine. So far this morning I have done the following (rather than write):

Necessary:
Shop for lunch.
Buy two birthday cards
Wrap two presents
Put on a wash
Email publisher

Not so necessary:
Have coffee
Buy daffodils
Phone a friend (she was out 🙁)
Chat to husband

Unnecessary:
Arrange daffodils (above) in a time consuming way
Remove ALL the fluff from the tumble drier filter with a small knife
Check emails 15 times
Chat to husband again
Write this

I have succeeded in doing no writing at all. I'd call that successful displacement 😀

Wasting time

Are you wasting time, reading this? Or, more to the point, am I wasting time writing it? Or is it a matter of opinion?

I have a friend, in her eighties, who regularly puts me to shame. She never seems to waste a moment, always busy,and she thinks blogging is a waste of time. She doesn't have a computer, and seems not to see the point of computers, and she may well have a point. But our recent conversation - about what constitutes wasting time - set me thinking.

What exactly is a watse of time? Or is one person's restful inactivity another's waste of time? Is it subjective or objective? I blog  because...I enjoy it ( I also do it to defer the moment when I have to write something that might actually earn me some money, but that's by the by). I enjoy writing posts, and reading other people's. I like the peaceful companionship of the blogging community of which I have become a part. So - can something be a waste of time if you're enjoying it? Is stopping the car to admire a view a waste of time? Why would some consider reading a frothy romance a waste of time, but ploughing through War and Peace a good use of time? I happen to prefer War and Peace, but many don't, and wouldn't it be a waste of their time reading it it they didn't enjoy it?

Doing things for others is obviously not a waste of time, and neither is Work. But isn't doing something just to please oneself sometimes a good use of time? Many of us writers write because we enjoy it, with (in some cases) little hope of publication. Is that a waste of time? I think not. Provided the writer enjoys the process, then isn't that OK?

As for fishing, well, I just don't get it. But many would considere the "activity" of fishing less of a waste of time than reading that frothy novel. Or blogging...

One other question: if you weren't reading this, what would/should you be doing?