I honestly don’t know if I can spend an entire weekend unplugged. At the very least, my sewing machine is electric and cell phone is the only phone I use aside from the fax line. On the other hand, I get more done when I turn everything off or head out to a cafe (without the laptop) and take out my pens and Moleskine and get to work. I still use my Blackberry when I’m planning on paper and need to see a visual calendar though.

But from about 1:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon, I shut off the computer. I read, I wrote in my journal — which led to some insights into the work in progress, and only turned the computer on twice, briefly.

I defend those two times by saying I was checking on a dear friend whose dog died last Friday — but I also know that I was feeling a certain kind of restlessness and anxiety at not being online, in my normal routine. Which means, of course, that I need to unplug more often.

Thanks for this post.

I have a few rituals to help me make the mental shift into weekend mode, but once I’m there, I am fully there…not thinking about work, emails, obligations,etc. The downside to this “being-ness” is that it makes for a jarring transition back to the work week on Mondays.

I’ve wondered about this. Most of the work I did on my recent book was completed by 1994. (Work was then interupted for well over a decade by health problems.)

The general atmosphere was so different in 94. I wasn’t even using a computer yet. I’ve always had the feeling that the tremendous business of life today would have worked against my getting the book done.