As I enter into summer, when I have less demands on my time and therefore hope to write a lot, I’m remembering acedia, the deadly sin that tends to plague those who do mental work:

Kathleen Norris, Acedia and Me:

Acedia is a danger to anyone whose work requires great concentration and discipline yet is considered by many to be of little practical value. (43)

[We should] discern which activities foster our spiritual freedom, and which do not. I cannot watch television, for example, and write a poem. I might be inspired to pray by something I see on a news program, but this is rare. The activities I find most compatible with contemplation and writing are walking, baking bread, and washing dishes. (190-191)

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters:

I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked. (Letter #12)