Day 24: Associating worktime with things I enjoy, tactile stimulation
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 sorts—a bit of a headache, aching joints, bloated abdomen. I’m not sure how much I’ll get done when I’m feeling so physically icky. When my period cramps start, I’ll usually take about two days off from writing since it’s almost impossible for me to work when I’m uncomfortable and in pain like that.
***
The spiritual and romantic arcs of volume 7 are done! It was a bit easier since there are several characters not present in this volume, who will appear again later.
Moving on to Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) on volume 8.
***
Wow, I finished Snowflake step 6 for volume 8! This volume used to be volumes 8 and 9, but I combined them into one, so I thought it might take a little longer to do Snowflake step 6. However, when I did Snowflake step 4 (one-page synopsis) for the volume, it ended up being a lot longer than a page, and so doing step 6 wasn’t so hard since step 4 had actually been rather detailed.
I’ve been taking some time to refill the creative well every day, so I think I’ll stop there, since it’s a good stopping point. I didn’t feel quite as antsy and distracted today as I was yesterday and I was able to focus well on my work.
I also didn’t take scheduled breaks every hour—I just worked until I was tired or got interrupted. Even so, I never worked longer than 90 minutes, so I ended up taking several breaks during the day. Yesterday, I would stop when my 1-hour timer went off and take a break, but today I didn’t start my timer. I was able to focus on my work and didn’t even notice the time most of the time. Also, my breaks ended up not being very long at all.
I’m not sure why scheduled breaks yesterday backfired so royally, but when I’m working at my standing desk, I don’t have to take breaks for my back like I did when I was sitting at my kotatsu desk. Since it’s been working well, I think I’ll stop taking scheduled breaks and see how that works out. I know it’s usually recommended to take scheduled breaks at regular intervals, but since I seem to be able to focus better when I’m working for longer periods, and since scheduled breaks derailed me yesterday, I’ll see how this goes.
Tomorrow, I’ll work on the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 8.
Time spent writing: 3 hours, 49 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 17 minutes
My takeaway for today: It helps me to not procrastinate (as much) and be able to focus on my work for long hours because I’ve come to associate my work time with things I enjoy, like spinning on my spinning wheel or drop spindle and eating tasty snacks.
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 sorts—a bit of a headache, aching joints, bloated abdomen. I’m not sure how much I’ll get done when I’m feeling so physically icky. When my period cramps start, I’ll usually take about two days off from writing since it’s almost impossible for me to work when I’m uncomfortable and in pain like that.
***
The spiritual and romantic arcs of volume 7 are done! It was a bit easier since there are several characters not present in this volume, who will appear again later.
Moving on to Snowflake step 6 (expanded synopsis) on volume 8.
***
Wow, I finished Snowflake step 6 for volume 8! This volume used to be volumes 8 and 9, but I combined them into one, so I thought it might take a little longer to do Snowflake step 6. However, when I did Snowflake step 4 (one-page synopsis) for the volume, it ended up being a lot longer than a page, and so doing step 6 wasn’t so hard since step 4 had actually been rather detailed.
I’ve been taking some time to refill the creative well every day, so I think I’ll stop there, since it’s a good stopping point. I didn’t feel quite as antsy and distracted today as I was yesterday and I was able to focus well on my work.
I also didn’t take scheduled breaks every hour—I just worked until I was tired or got interrupted. Even so, I never worked longer than 90 minutes, so I ended up taking several breaks during the day. Yesterday, I would stop when my 1-hour timer went off and take a break, but today I didn’t start my timer. I was able to focus on my work and didn’t even notice the time most of the time. Also, my breaks ended up not being very long at all.
I’m not sure why scheduled breaks yesterday backfired so royally, but when I’m working at my standing desk, I don’t have to take breaks for my back like I did when I was sitting at my kotatsu desk. Since it’s been working well, I think I’ll stop taking scheduled breaks and see how that works out. I know it’s usually recommended to take scheduled breaks at regular intervals, but since I seem to be able to focus better when I’m working for longer periods, and since scheduled breaks derailed me yesterday, I’ll see how this goes.
Tomorrow, I’ll work on the spiritual and romantic arcs for volume 8.
Time spent writing: 3 hours, 49 minutes
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 17 minutes
My takeaway for today: It helps me to not procrastinate (as much) and be able to focus on my work for long hours because I’ve come to associate my work time with things I enjoy, like spinning on my spinning wheel or drop spindle and eating tasty snacks.
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