Day 20: Binging Netflix to combat antsy-ness, combining volumes
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 spend more time reading. I’ll evaluate how it’s working in a few days to see if the reading and watching Netflix has helped to ease the antsy-ness.
The problem is that this can’t be a long-term solution. I want to get back to working at least 6 hours a day on my writing. I’m hoping that binging right now will refill the creative well enough that the antsy-ness will go away and I’ll be able to get back to what I was doing before, although I’ll try to schedule in at least an hour of reading or watching Netflix every day so I don’t get into this antsy state again.
I’m hoping I’ll be less antsy and distracted today than I was yesterday, and that it continues to go away.
I’m also continuing to experiment with scheduled breaks rather than just working until I feel tired or hungry. Today I’ll continue to work for an hour, then take a break. I thought about limiting my breaks to a certain time limit, but sometimes I have things I need to do that take longer than 5 or 10 minutes, so I’ll see how I do without the time limit.
Today I’m working on Snowflake step 6 (and possibly also the spiritual and romantic arcs) for volume 6 in my series.
***
Volume 6 used to be volumes 6 and 7 before I combined them when doing Snowflake step 4 (one page synopsis) on them. I did Snowflake step 6 on the first part of volume 6, and it ended up being longer than I expected. I’ll do Snowflake step 6 on the second part of volume 6 and see how long it is. I might need to split up volume 6 after all.
I also feel a little less antsy today, so maybe binging Netflix for a few days did help refill my creative well enough. I’ve reached 3 hours of work, but I’ll continue for a little longer, then spend some time reading or watching Netflix.
***
Finished doing Snowflake step 6 on volume 6! After working on the second half of the volume, I realized that the second half is a lot shorter than the first half and wouldn’t be long enough to be its own volume, so it’s better to combine the two into one volume. It’s good to know that doing Snowflake step 4 on those volumes was helpful and probably saved me a lot of work.
I am very happy I’m not so antsy today, but it’s getting late so I think I’ll stop here, although I wrote less than 4 hours today. I want to make sure I get a couple hours of reading or Netflix in before bed, since it seems that refilling the creative well helps stave off the antsy-ness and distraction while I’m working. Tomorrow is my writing Sabbath, so I’ll get even more reading and Netflix done, and hopefully that will help me to be able to focus on Monday when I get back to this.
I also thought that taking scheduled breaks today worked very well. I was able to go to the bathroom, make tea, etc. during my breaks, and they were never longer than 30 minutes.
The only problem was when I finished working on Snowflake step 6 and it hadn’t yet been an hour. I could have moved on to the spiritual and romantic arcs so that I could continue working until the hour was up, but I wanted to have a good stopping point so it’ll be easier to start up again on Monday, so I stopped working a little before the timer.
Time spent writing: 3 hours, 53 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 24 minutes
My takeaway for today: Refilling the creative well seems to stave off the antsy-ness and distraction when I’m working and enable me to focus better.
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 spend more time reading. I’ll evaluate how it’s working in a few days to see if the reading and watching Netflix has helped to ease the antsy-ness.
The problem is that this can’t be a long-term solution. I want to get back to working at least 6 hours a day on my writing. I’m hoping that binging right now will refill the creative well enough that the antsy-ness will go away and I’ll be able to get back to what I was doing before, although I’ll try to schedule in at least an hour of reading or watching Netflix every day so I don’t get into this antsy state again.
I’m hoping I’ll be less antsy and distracted today than I was yesterday, and that it continues to go away.
I’m also continuing to experiment with scheduled breaks rather than just working until I feel tired or hungry. Today I’ll continue to work for an hour, then take a break. I thought about limiting my breaks to a certain time limit, but sometimes I have things I need to do that take longer than 5 or 10 minutes, so I’ll see how I do without the time limit.
Today I’m working on Snowflake step 6 (and possibly also the spiritual and romantic arcs) for volume 6 in my series.
***
Volume 6 used to be volumes 6 and 7 before I combined them when doing Snowflake step 4 (one page synopsis) on them. I did Snowflake step 6 on the first part of volume 6, and it ended up being longer than I expected. I’ll do Snowflake step 6 on the second part of volume 6 and see how long it is. I might need to split up volume 6 after all.
I also feel a little less antsy today, so maybe binging Netflix for a few days did help refill my creative well enough. I’ve reached 3 hours of work, but I’ll continue for a little longer, then spend some time reading or watching Netflix.
***
Finished doing Snowflake step 6 on volume 6! After working on the second half of the volume, I realized that the second half is a lot shorter than the first half and wouldn’t be long enough to be its own volume, so it’s better to combine the two into one volume. It’s good to know that doing Snowflake step 4 on those volumes was helpful and probably saved me a lot of work.
I am very happy I’m not so antsy today, but it’s getting late so I think I’ll stop here, although I wrote less than 4 hours today. I want to make sure I get a couple hours of reading or Netflix in before bed, since it seems that refilling the creative well helps stave off the antsy-ness and distraction while I’m working. Tomorrow is my writing Sabbath, so I’ll get even more reading and Netflix done, and hopefully that will help me to be able to focus on Monday when I get back to this.
I also thought that taking scheduled breaks today worked very well. I was able to go to the bathroom, make tea, etc. during my breaks, and they were never longer than 30 minutes.
The only problem was when I finished working on Snowflake step 6 and it hadn’t yet been an hour. I could have moved on to the spiritual and romantic arcs so that I could continue working until the hour was up, but I wanted to have a good stopping point so it’ll be easier to start up again on Monday, so I stopped working a little before the timer.
Time spent writing: 3 hours, 53 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 24 minutes
My takeaway for today: Refilling the creative well seems to stave off the antsy-ness and distraction when I’m working and enable me to focus better.
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