Camy's Writing Diary

I managed to get up an hour earlier today, and couldn’t believe how tired I was and how hard it was! Why is this so difficult? Anyway, after spending so much time yesterday waffling over if I should combine volumes 9 and 10 or leave them as separate volumes, I’ve decided to combine them. I had originally only done the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 9 and not volume 10. Now that they’re combined, I have to rearrange the spiritual and romantic arcs to spread out over the entire combined volume. *** I developed a headache and didn’t get much done today. I’m almost done with the spiritual and romantic arcs for the volume, but I just can’t keep working through the pain. I’ll finish it tomorrow. Time spent writing: 54 minutes Time spent doing other writing-related business: 29 minutes *** Update: I hit the Advil and Excedrine hard, and as a result the headache eventually went away, so I went back to writing. *** Wow! I finished the spiritual and romantic arcs for vol

Lately I’ve been frustrated that even when I go to bed early, I often can’t get to sleep right away and end up tossing and turning for an hour or two. Then I get up later, which cuts into my writing time. I really don’t know how to fix this. I had thought going to bed earlier would help me to get up earlier, but that’s turning out not to be the case. Today I’m continuing work on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) on volume 10. It’s looking like it’s a short volume, just like how volume 9 was short, so I’m going to spend time today trying to combine volumes 9 and 10 together and seeing how they are. *** I finished Snowflake step 6 for the combined volume 9/10, which is now volume 9. I’m worried that volume 9 will be really long, just like volume 8 (which is what used to be volumes 8 and 9 combined). What’s also worrying me is that volume 10 (the last volume) will be much shorter than any of the other volumes. I’ll have to think about if there’s anything in volume 9 that I can

I think I learned a lot for the past 4 weeks of writing this blog diary. Clearing the decks: First off, let me say that every person is different, so this may not pertain to other writers. But for me, when I do all my daily chores first, then I am free to focus only on my writing until I have to cook dinner. Also, after dinner, I am free to focus on my writing until bedtime. I just seem to be able to concentrate on my work better when I’ve done all the little nagging things that need to get done first. That way, they don’t pop up in my head and distract me while I’m working. One major task at a time: Again, every person is different, but for the past month, I have been more efficient and productive when I focus on just one major task at a time, whether that’s plotting, writing the first draft, editing, or miscellaneous self-publishing work (formatting the ebook and print books, uploading to Kindle, etc.). Most writing teachers say to form a daily writing habit, so since mid-Dec

I got a late start today, and I spent some extra time blogging that I hadn’t intended to do. I’ll see how much I can get done today. I also had a realization while walking today. I spent about 9-10 hours a day working when I was in biology research full-time, but now that I’m writing full-time, I don’t spend the same amount of time working on my writing and writing-related activities. I did some calculations. I sleep about 8 hours, although lately that has been flexible since sometimes I wake up after 6 hours and sometimes I wake up after 9 hours. After I wake up, I take about 4 hours to do home chores that I want to get out of the way so I can clear my To Do list and have nothing else to do but my writing, at least until I have to start cooking dinner. These home chores include my personal hygiene, my quiet time with God, cleaning the house, laundry, washing dishes, daily exercise, gardening, breakfast/lunch cooking. I don’t always have gardening, laundry and cleaning the house

Got up a little early and started my home chores. Since it’s Friday, I don’t have as many chores to do so I’m starting work a little sooner than usual. Today I’m working on the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 8. I’m introducing a new character in this volume, so I need to do the spiritual and romantic arcs for her. I have a little bit done, but since I altered the plotline a bit since I wrote that, I need to revise it. Also, her spiritual arc is too similar to another character in the series, so I want to tweak it so it’s more unique for her personality and background. *** I finished the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 8! Now on to Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) on volume 9. I think this will take longer than other Snowflake step 6s that I’ve done for other volumes, because my Snowflake step 4 (one-page synopsis) is rather sparse for this volume. I’m still feeling a bit physically off because of my period (which surprisingly still hasn’t come), but I notice

Wowwww I got really distracted today. I did get some work done on the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 8, but I didn’t get as much done as I wanted. A lot of it was because I’m about to get my period, so physically I feel off. I finally stopped work and started reading, and ended up doing that for about 3 hours! I’ll go to bed early and hopefully get more work done tomorrow. Time spent writing: 3 hours, 3 minutes Time spent doing other writing-related business: 10 minutes My takeaway for today: Blaming my period might be just a lame excuse, but I did feel kind of off today.

Today I’m working on the spiritual and romantic arcs in volume 7 of my series. As I was walking today, I realized that it helps that I’ve come to associate the plotting work with something I enjoy, namely spinning on my wheel or with my drop spindles, and eating snacks I really like. I think this may be a key to not procrastinating as much and being able to focus. The snacks are probably not healthy for me, but I tend to need tactile stimulation when I’m being creative (which is why spinning helps so much), and sometimes having pleasant flavors in my mouth helps me to think. I have a writing friend who needs visual stimulation to write, so she keeps a television on mute while she’s on her computer, playing movies that inspire her. Many other friends need audio stimulation and have music playing. But I’m a tactile creator (that’s what I call myself, anyway), so things that I can touch or taste usually work best for me. I’m about to start my period, so I’m feeling rather out of sor

Today I’m working on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) on volume 7 of my series. *** My ankles were a little sore, so I worked at my kotatsu desk for the first hour. However, I found I missed using my trackball (I have a mouse at my kotatsu desk), plus the setup isn’t as comfortable for my arms and upper back because my keyboard and mouse aren’t at the ideal height and distance from my body. I can get the height and distance close, but not as comfortable as at my standing desk. So after an hour, I switched back to my standing desk. I guess I’m very affected by my tools. But I don’t want to get to a point of psychological dependence where I absolutely can’t work unless I’m at my special writing setup. Still, I notice I’m more productive at my standing desk and with my trackball. I have been trying to work for an hour and then take a break, and I continued that today. However, I found that every time I took a break, it ended up being longer than it should have been. At my se

I’m getting a late start today since I had home chores to do, but my email took less than five minutes since I didn’t have many messages. While I was walking today, I also realized that since I’m writing this diary as a public blog, I’ve been much more disciplined and productive because of the accountability. Even if no one reads this, it’s still out there in the blogosphere and I don’t want to slack off on my work since I’d have to confess to it in my daily blog entries. I’m really glad that this blog has helped me to work harder and be more productive in finishing my plotting of this series. I hope it will also help me to finish writing the books quickly too. Also, in blogging about my antsy-ness and distraction, it made me stop and try to figure out why I was feeling that way. If I hadn’t been blogging about it, I might not have even paid attention to the antsy feelings, and I wouldn’t have actively looked for a way to combat it. I’m still trying to figure out how long I need to

Today was my writing Sabbath so I didn’t do any writing today, but I spent a lot of time doing writing-related things. I did some blogging, and I also reviewed my writing To Do list. I cleaned it up by checking off what’s been done, deleting what I no longer need to do, and making note of what I need to do this coming week. Before I started bullet journaling (in an electronic journal app, Day One Journal ), I had my To Do lists in a couple different places and I’d usually forget things I needed to do. Now I have them in my bullet journal, which combines journaling with task organizer, and I’m less likely to forget. I still set reminders for myself in my phone, but since I’m using my journal throughout the day every day, I’m more likely to see things I need to do. I found some of my old To Do lists today and incorporated some things in my bullet journal. One of them was my writing Surrender Statement, which is a prayer I pray before starting each day’s work. What’s a Surrender Sta

I’ve been concerned about the antsy-ness I’ve been feeling the past few days and wondering what I can do to cure it. It isn’t quite the same, but it reminds me of the antsy-ness I felt when I was suffering from several bouts of writer’s block , so that’s why I’m a little more concerned than I normally would be. I don’t think I’m entering into another season of writer’s block, but I also want to do everything I can to avoid it if possible. I get the feeling that the antsy-ness and being easily distracted is because I’m getting tapped out, creatively, which is why I’ve been working fewer hours a day on writing and spending more time reading or watching Netflix. I suppose I’ll continue to try that for a few more days to see if it helps—it’s too soon to know for sure, but I might have been a little less antsy yesterday, after I’d spent some time binging Netflix the days before. So today instead of my usual target goal of at least 6 hours of work, I’m going to aim for only 3 and then sp

This diary has been very helpful in helping me to understand my typical daily habits, since I’ve been recording not only what I did but also how I felt throughout the day. Ever since I realized that I need to “clear the decks” every day before I start my writing work, I’ve been spending about 3 hours after waking up to do home chores, and then anywhere from 60-90 minutes doing email and other writing-related work. (“Clearing the decks” is mentioned in 5,000 Words Per Hour: Write Faster, Write Smarter by Chris Fox. “Clearing the decks” is the simple principle of doing everything else you have to do first so that you can focus just on your task at hand. For some people, that’s cleaning their desk or going to the bathroom or making a cup of coffee. For me, it’s doing all my home chores and email, because otherwise the thought of them left undone will nag me and distract me while I’m writing, which makes it hard for me to focus and get into flow state.) Then I will usually be able to

Spent some time today doing writing-related work: checking email, and editing a newsletter for the print release of two of my novellas, Necessary Proof and Unshakeable Pursuit . Now that I think about it, I could have saved the newsletter to do this Sunday, which is probably what I should have done, but it’s too late now, so I’ll try to remember for next time. I watched some Netflix last night, so hopefully I won’t be quite so antsy and unfocused today while writing, like I was yesterday. I’m continuing work on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) for volume 4, but since I already finished the spiritual and romantic arcs, hopefully it won’t take too long today. I have to figure out some plot points that I couldn’t solve yesterday. *** I finished Snowflake step 6 on volume 4! Now on to volume 5! *** I’m finding myself easily distracted. It’s partly because when I’m brainstorming a problem, I get on my spinning wheel or use my drop spindle while I think (it’s like how you’re

I stayed up way too late yesterday watching Netflix (I got sucked into a TV show and binge-watched) and woke up way too late today. As a result of my lack of discipline in getting to bed on time, I feel like a complete loser today. On the plus side, my email didn’t take much time today. I only spent a little time writing the draft for my next newsletter to be released around the end of the month. Yesterday, I started work on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) for volume 4, so I’ll continue that today. Yesterday I ended up doing some of the spiritual and romantic arcs of the volume because it helped me to do Snowflake step 6, so I’m actually combining steps B and C of my book creation process . *** It’s a bit harder to focus today than it’s been since the beginning of the month. I’m not entirely sure why, but it might be because I haven’t refilled the creative well very much this month. When I was under contract with my publishers, I was very much a “burst” writer and I’d w

I suppose yesterday ended up being a “sick day” since I got no work done aside from checking my email in the morning and doing a little writing-related work. My headache didn’t die down until after midnight, so I didn’t get any writing done. Today I feel better, so I’m picking up where I left off on Saturday, I’m working on the spiritual and romantic arcs of volume 3 in my series. If I can finish those today, then I’ll start work on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) for volume 4. I spent longer than I expected blogging today, so I’m starting work late. I hope I can get in at least 5 hours of writing. *** Unfortunately I didn’t get much done today because of some intestinal cramping (I think from the bad food I ate a couple days ago). I finished the spiritual and romantic arcs of volume 3, and I started Snowflake step 6 on volume 4 but didn’t get much done. I hope I feel better tomorrow. Time spent writing: 2 hours, 3 minutes Time spent doing other writing-related busines

I had been trying to separate my email “space” from my writing “space” by using my (older) laptop to go somewhere else to check email and do writing-related work. But today I had some formatting I had to do for the Japanese translation of Sushi for One , so I just did my work at my desk, which has my mechanical keyboard and trackball. I realized that having my preferred peripheral tools made things a lot easier. Most articles and books I’ve read say to separate your email/business stuff from your writing in order to get into flow state faster and easier, which I why I’d been using my older laptop. However, my email is a lot less work when I do it at my desk. I thought maybe I should try using my kotatsu desk for my email. It’s not in a different room from my writing desk, so I didn’t really consider it a “different space,” but it might work? I can at least set it up with a better mouse to use instead of the laptop trackpad. I suppose I could give it a shot, although I’ll miss going

Today is my writing Sabbath, so I didn’t work on my series today. I realized that I’m doing an awful lot of work laying the groundwork for these books, essentially ten full-length novels, all in advance before even writing them. And I still have a lot to do— Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopses) for nine of those volumes, which includes characters’ spiritual and romantic arcs, then Snowflake step 8 (scene spreadsheets). I can typically start writing at that point, because I write out my blocking descriptions for each scene just before I write it. I’m trying to decide if I want to complete Snowflake step 8 for all those volumes first before I go back to editing volume 1, or if I can get away with only completing Snowflake step 6 (including spiritual/romantic arcs) for all the volumes. If I only did Snowflake step 6, then I’d do Snowflake step 8 on each volume right before I started writing it (starting with volume 2), rather than on all the volumes at once. I’m thinking that might

I finished doing Snowflake step 6 on volume 3 of my series, and then immediately started working on the internal and romantic arcs of the characters. Back on Day 3 when I was talking about my book creation process , I mentioned that Stage 2 for me is doing the Snowflake steps 2 (1-paragraph summary), 4 (one-page synopsis), and 6 (expanded synopsis), and then Stage 3 for me is doing the internal/spiritual and romantic arcs. But today I realized that while Stage 3 is a separate step for me, it could conceivably be included in Snowflake step 6. However, when I make it a separate step for me, it reminds me to do it, whereas if I lump it in with Snowflake step 6, I might forget to do it. Since this is a series, I have a file that lists each character’s spiritual arc and romantic arc as they progress through the series. It’s a bit sparse right now, but I’ll fill it in as I finish Snowflake step 6 on each volume in the series. For a character’s spiritual arc, I have a bullet list. Each

Yesterday I got stuck on Snowflake step 2 (1-paragraph summary) for volume 10, so I’ll see if I can fix that one plot problem. Once I do, Snowflake step 2 will be done for that volume and I can move to volume 11, which is the last planned volume for the series. If I can finish Snowflake step 2 for both volumes 10 and 11, then I’ll go back to volume 9 and flesh out Snowflake step 4 (1-page synopsis) a little more. If it looks like the plot is too thin for an entire book, I might combine it with volume 10, which is what I was considering yesterday. Today my email again took very little time. Yay! I think that the practice of pushing small things off to Sunday to do might work, since I’m less distracted while doing my email. I also noted to my husband today that I haven’t had a stiff neck when I wake up in the morning ever since I started using my standing desk more (12 days). I also haven’t had any upper back issues like I usually do. I had thought my stiff neck was because of my

My email took very little time today, but I did have to wrestle a bit with Safari and Adobe.com to get my password changed. I still have a few house chores to do, but then I’ll be continuing to work on Snowflake step 4 (one-page synopsis) on volume 8 of my series (which used to be volumes 8/9 before I combined them). Looking over my diary entry yesterday, I realize that as I progress through this series and my original plots change, the later volumes are taking longer to plot because I have to redo Snowflake step 2 (1-paragraph summary) to accommodate for the changed plots, so I shouldn’t be so frustrated that the plotting is taking longer than I’d like. However, I would still like to work faster. In my quiet time with God today, I realized that I don’t depend on God enough when I’m doing work like this. I pray for help when I’m not feeling well physically, or when I’m rushing to meet a deadline, but when figuring out plotting problems I don’t even think to ask God for help. And w

I don’t know why it always surprises me how much time I have to spend doing house chores, but I’m left feeling frustrated that half my day is gone and I’m only just cracking open my laptop. Part of the time-consuming part of chores is when I have to make decisions about what to cook, which I didn’t have to make before I was battling IBS. In Write Better, Faster: How To Triple Your Writing Speed and Write More Every Day , the author talks about how decision-making can be incredibly time-consuming, which is even moreso the case with me, because of the way my brain is wired. I have to find a way to make decisions about cooking a lot faster, or at least in a way that doesn’t impact my writing time. I am going to start planning out my cooking on Sundays when I’m not supposed to be writing. It won’t make cooking take any less time, but it might save time in dithering about what to cook during the week. I also realized that a large part of why I’m so frustrated at how much time my non-w

I realized something that in retrospect seems like a very obvious productivity tip. Today I cleaned up my email inbox (it’s not as impressive as that sounds, I spent a few days and cleaned it up completely a few months ago and so I try to keep it clear every day or every other day) and usually I would need to spend time to put files away or record purchases (for my records), but this time I threw all the files in a folder on my desktop and made a reminder in my Task list to do all that stuff on Sunday, which is technically my writing Sabbath (although I kind of cheated a couple days ago). I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner, but usually I’m too OCD and feel like I need to do all that stuff right when I check my email. I’m also afraid I’ll forget to do it later (which happens a lot more than I like the older I get). But because I made a reminder for myself, and the reminder lists exactly what I need to do, I won’t forget to do anything. And so I finished my email a lot soon

Yesterday I did some research into writer’s rituals and there’s a surprising amount online. What’s more, there’s a proven psychological benefit derived from rituals, so all those weird baseball rituals really do have a purpose. :) I especially liked this article which seemed most comprehensive, which included all the information I’d read on several different websites. What I got out of all that research was: 1) Ritual can trigger behavior like Pavlov’s dog. The article above doesn’t list it, but there are other websites that went into the deeper scientific studies that show how repetitive rituals can trigger a person to shift into “writing” mode. One article described it as “leaving the real world.” 2) Once you decide on a ritual, daily repetition will reinforce it and eventually the ritual will become a trigger to help your brain enter into the right headspace. It’s basically creating a positive habit. 3) Slightly odd or strange rituals work better, because they engage more o

Time spent writing versus words written: Even though I didn’t actually get a lot of words down yesterday (that I kept—I threw away a lot of words and ideas that I decided not to use), I spent 6 hours working on my series. I know lots of writers measure their progress by words written, even when they’re editing or plotting, but I can’t do that because of days like yesterday. In plotting my series, I realized the plot of a particular book was unnecessary and so I dropped it. I think I ended up with negative words yesterday because of that. But I made a significant decision about my series that will make it better in the long run. For me, making decisions takes me a long time. I’m not sure why, that’s just how my brain works. (Actually, I realized my dad is like that too.) So … 6 hours to analyze, weigh pros and cons, and make a decision. Most people would think that’s terrible, but then again, 6 hours is nothing compared to if I’d written the book—or even just a few chapters of the

Email took a lot longer than I expected today, but it wasn’t really business oriented. I’m always looking for books to listen to while I walk, and there was an audiobook sale, so I bought some. :) Back when I was suffering from those bouts of writer’s block , audiobooks were great for jump-starting my creativity and motivating me to write, so I like having lots of audiobooks to choose from when I’m walking. Yesterday, I spent so long on my feet that my ankles hurt today, so I’m sitting at my kotatsu desk and working on my MacBook Air for most of today rather than on my standing desk. But I don’t regret it, because I finished Snowflake step 4 (one-page synopsis) and part of step 6 (expanded synopsis) on volume 5 yesterday, and fixing that plot problem had been pretty difficult for me. I’m so glad I got it done. Today, I’ll continue doing Snowflake step 4 on my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series, and the next one to do is volume 7. *** Maybe because it’s Saturday, but I am very distrac

My ankles were hurting yesterday so I decided to rest them today and not go walking. I dived right into reading and clearing my new emails. It seems email takes anywhere from 30-60 minutes everyday. I wish there were a way to cut that down, although right now I’m dealing with a lot of emails about my Japanese translation of Sushi for One . The translation is finished, so at the moment we’re dealing with formatting options/questions and feedback from the proofreader. Once it’s published, my translator will only be working on translating the next book in the series, Only Uni , and I won’t have as many things I’ll need to be doing. I’m also working with my graphic designer to do the covers for the Japanese versions of the Sushi series. The other books won’t be translated for a while, but since she had to do the cover for book 1, I asked her to do all the ebook covers at once so that they have the same style and feel. I think she did a great job, but there have been small changes that ne

Woke up early, went walking, did some house chores. Cleared the deck by taking care of my emails, which took about an hour. I had some time while I was in the bathroom (ahem) so I looked through my past Toggl time logs. I use Toggl.com to track when I start and stop working on each project, so I can see how much time I spend on each project during the day, week, month, etc. I noticed that I had lots of days this year where I worked less than 5 hours a day. I can’t be sure but it might partly be because at the time, I was trying to do a little writing and editing each day, and I think I’m just not productive or focused unless I clear the decks and devote myself to one project at a time. It was also obvious I didn’t want to edit Lady Wynwood 1 (as I mentioned yesterday, I detest editing) because I only did an hour or so each day. In May, when I was focused just on the furigana for Sushi for One , or just on doing my self-editing busy work (also not my favorite task), I could work

Because I felt sick yesterday, I ended up sleeping longer than usual—nothing new, I tend to do that the night after a headache or intestinal cramping. But that also means I got started later today. I also have more housework to do today, including making dinner, so I’ll have less time to work before I have to start cooking. After going for a short walk and then making lunch, I “cleared the deck” again by checking my email inbox. I usually only check it once a day, and sometimes I actually forget to check my email for the day so sometimes it’ll have a couple days backlog. I try to get this stuff done before writing because otherwise it’ll bother me and distract me from writing. I got an email from my translator about adjusting the formatting for Sushi for One a little more, and I also got the cover back from my graphic designer for the Japanese version of Sushi for One . It looks great! She also went ahead and did the ebook covers for the other two books in the series, Only Uni an