In Praise of Idle Prep
Three things have occurred in my life recently:
- I've been working on Triangle U, particularly editing our first Mission, Senioritis, to figure out what Missions should look like across the entire book.
- I'm starting a new Stonetop duet campaign with my friend Sam Kabo Ashwell, who is playing two PCs
- I've just read I've Got Time by Paul Loomans, a wonderful book about how, ultimately, intuition is the surest way to decide what you should do next.
I've been noticing recently is that when I allow my intuition to decide what I do next, I end up working on projects that I feel inspired to work on1. Setting aside time for prep can be useful, but can also be intimidating if you're not feeling inspired --- this has been an obstacle for me recently. So, I've been idly dreaming, to borrow Avery Alder's phrase, and chipping away at each of these as I have thoughts or ideas.
As a result, I've noticed as well that my subconscious is indeed working the problem in the background for all of the above prep activities. I had a lot of productive thinking time during an eight-hour drive to Nashville last week where I was turning over some setting thoughts on Cartersfield and some prep thoughts for the Great Wood of Stonetop.
The projects will get done, as and when I feel called to finish them. I feel relaxed about each of them and, I suspect, each will be finished exactly when it should be.
Perhaps surprisingly, this includes things I had been putting off! A key part of Loomans's instructions is to turn "gnawing rats" into "white sheep" by facing the obstacles to doing your less-attractive tasks. I can't recommend this book enough!↩