Day 23: Derailed by scheduled breaks
Today I’m working on Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) on volume 7 of my series.
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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 second break, I stopped to eat something and was reading while I ate, and I didn’t want to stop reading because it was a good book, so I spent an extra hour to finish the book. I hate being so easily tempted by stuff like that when I’m supposed to be working. WORKING!
I mean, after working I would have spent that hour reading anyway, since I have been trying to read (and refill the creative well) every day. So I suppose it wasn’t absolutely awful for me to do it then as opposed to after I worked, but it’s kind of like eating dessert first. I guess I’m worried that in eating dessert first, I still might not eat my vegetables!
So taking breaks was rather detrimental for me today. For my last writing session, I didn’t take a scheduled break, I just worked right through. During that session, I happened to finish Snowflake step 6 on volume 7 of my series, so I ended up stopping work after about 2 hours.
I might try to continue to take scheduled breaks tomorrow, but if I continue taking long breaks, I think I’ll just do what I’ve been doing before and writing until I feel tired (or I’m interrupted). The only exception will be if I’m working on my kotatsu desk, because I need to take a break every hour for my back, but after my frustrations working at that desk today, I might not do that very often.
Tomorrow, I’ll work on the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 7.
Time spent writing: 4 hours, 26 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 40 minutes
My takeaway for today: There’s a possibility that scheduled breaks may be derailing my productivity.
***
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 second break, I stopped to eat something and was reading while I ate, and I didn’t want to stop reading because it was a good book, so I spent an extra hour to finish the book. I hate being so easily tempted by stuff like that when I’m supposed to be working. WORKING!
I mean, after working I would have spent that hour reading anyway, since I have been trying to read (and refill the creative well) every day. So I suppose it wasn’t absolutely awful for me to do it then as opposed to after I worked, but it’s kind of like eating dessert first. I guess I’m worried that in eating dessert first, I still might not eat my vegetables!
So taking breaks was rather detrimental for me today. For my last writing session, I didn’t take a scheduled break, I just worked right through. During that session, I happened to finish Snowflake step 6 on volume 7 of my series, so I ended up stopping work after about 2 hours.
I might try to continue to take scheduled breaks tomorrow, but if I continue taking long breaks, I think I’ll just do what I’ve been doing before and writing until I feel tired (or I’m interrupted). The only exception will be if I’m working on my kotatsu desk, because I need to take a break every hour for my back, but after my frustrations working at that desk today, I might not do that very often.
Tomorrow, I’ll work on the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 7.
Time spent writing: 4 hours, 26 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 40 minutes
My takeaway for today: There’s a possibility that scheduled breaks may be derailing my productivity.
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