Yes, I’ve lost track. I’ve also stopped tracking every hour of my day (WOOHOO!) because I feel like the effort is no longer paying off (though I’m so glad I got those insights in the beginning) and because I ran out of pages in my notebook.
So how did last week go?
Weird. It went weird.
For one thing, there was Halloween. That totally happened. And I had a dentist appointment that day. So that on top of helping everyone get into their costumes plus putting mine on (and feeling slightly ridiculous getting dressed up just to answer the door, but WHATEVER) left me less than productive. I did get a bunch of my proofreading done while I was waiting for the doorbell to ring, though, so that’s something.
In fact, I finished my proofread and made my corrections last week, so that pen name book is ready to go tomorrow.
Actually, it’s available now, but tomorrow’s the OFFICIAL release day.
Wednesday was the start of NaNoWriMo, and I started it off with a… what’s the opposite of a bang? Whatever that is. Zero words on day one. Day two netted 1800 words (much better, but not enough to get me caught up), and Friday was another goose-egg because I was way too tired to function early on Friday morning and then there was this thing with waiting to see if a guest was coming over, and… Yeah.
Long story short, I’m sitting just north of 7,000 words and well south of the “YOU SHOULD BE HERE” line on the NaNo site tracker, but it’s definitely not too late for me to catch up.
And I’m hoping that once I get that pen name book off my desk tomorrow (officially), I’ll be better able to focus on the two writing projects that are currently sitting in the corner, staring uncomfortably at me and each other, waiting for the action to start.
It’s awkward.
This morning I made a list of all of the stuff that’s holding me back from using my time well. The issue still isn’t (generally) time, it’s time use. For one thing, when I feel overwhelmed, I freeze and do nothing, which means I need to keep a running list of smaller tasks I can use to get me warmed up. Also, life intrudes on planned work time. Like this morning: I was going to write all day, working on both projects. Then I had a wicked headache this morning and couldn’t do the computer thing, so there went that hour. Then one of the dogs had a sore paw, so I went to the drugstore to get that kinda-sticky bandage stuff to keep him from licking it, and while I was there I got my flu shot, but the paperwork for that took time and then they made me wait for ten minutes to make sure I wasn’t going to die*, and then I decided to get making tonight’s meatballs out of the way since I only had an hour before lunch, and then there was email to send to people who are reviewing the book, and…
Long story short, it’s 1:30 and I’m just about to dive into my NaNo project, which is likely the only thing that I’ll touch today (sorry, revisions).
Part of the problem is that I don’t have the kind of accountability I need to get and stay on task. I hate to say it, but I need a boss. It’s so easy to let myself off the hook when I don’t start work on time. Because OBVIOUSLY I totally understand the things that get in my way. I was there, man. I get it. It’s cool.
IT IS NOT COOL. I need someone to slap my wrist if I’m not at work when I said I would be.** I am clearly not responsible enough to handle myself.
So that’s something to work on. At least I’m gaining some insight into the problems. That’s step one. Step two is figuring out how I can change my schedule and/or my attitudes or ways of thinking to help me overcome those pitfalls.
I’m getting there.
To end on a positive note, I’m about a week into this Whole30 thing where I’m eating good foods and seeing what kind of impact it has on my health. So far, so good. I did not try to murder anyone for their Halloween candy, and I have not starved yet. Food prep and cooking are definitely eating into my time, but I don’t really mind. I actually like the cooking more than I do the eating***, and I’m discovering some very nice new recipes, AND I’m enjoying some great podcasts while my hands are busy.
My family isn’t exactly jumping on board and begging to eat my roasted vegetables, but we’re all surviving.
I may be less positive by next week, when I’ll likely be sick to death of both eggs and cooking. In the meantime, though, breakfasts are becoming far more interesting than they usually are:
Thanks for stopping by! Let me know in the comments what you’re up to this week and how your Halloween went!
*I may have misunderstood the exact reasoning behind these instructions.
**the fact that my work doesn’t produce immediate feedback and that there’s no direct correlation between hours worked and money paid is a real pain in my ass, too, motivationally speaking.
***This has nothing to do with my food or cooking skills. I’m on a medication that makes food generally “ew,” so I really have to tempt myself to eat. The food is really good.
disregard the prologue 
November 7th, 2017 at 1:03 am
Sometimes I wonder if setting a schedule and putting down a list of tasks might help me crack the door open on my writing. But that seems too much like work for me. For the ten years or so that I did a lot of writing, I didn’t keep a schedule, I just wrote when I had free time and words in my head. That doesn’t seem to be working any more. Too many distractions and too much frustration when I try to put words together on a page. I think I should just commit to one hour each night to give it a try, but those damned distractions.
Keep working on it and keep blogging about your efforts. They help me to keep trying to figure it out myself.
November 12th, 2017 at 3:50 pm
Glad to help! I still don’t feel like I have a lot of answers, but I know I get more done when I at least keep my goals at the front of my mind and carve out time for them instead of waiting for motivation to strike. Because it never does. O.o
November 12th, 2017 at 8:47 pm
I continue to make little, itty bitty, baby steps towards a more structured approach to writing. I’ll spare the details, but it depends in some part on some cooperation from the significant other in the house and that cooperation is slow in coming. 😉 But still, I’m working on it.