Day 6: Retail procrastination

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 distracted today. After lunch, instead of getting straight to work, I searched for some missing craft supplies that I’ll need in a few days, and then I bought an ergonomic anti fatigue mat for my standing desk since my ankles hurt so much. I suppose they’re not unnecessary tasks, but I do feel like I’ve been a little ADD today …

… And that’s because I also spent time to buy another keyboard since I’m switching between two workstations these days. I had previously bought a Redragon gaming keyboard with Outemu Blue switches (Cherry MX Blue equivalent), because I had read that having a really good mechanical keyboard makes a huge difference when you’re typing all day.

I found this is totally true! After a few days to get used to how noisy the blue switches are, I switched between my Redragon keyboard and my regular keyboard and there’s a world of difference. I absolutely love typing on my Redragon keyboard because it feels so much better.

The fact it’s a gaming keyboard is especially helpful for me because I type fast and regular keyboards will sometimes make mistakes because I’m pressing two keys too quickly right after the other, but gaming keyboards have anti-ghosting keys, which means I can type as fast as I want and the keys will still register.



The keyboard I bought before is no longer available, but I bought another one in the same line, the Redragon K552 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard 60% Compact 87 Key Kumara Wired Cherry MX Blue Switches Equivalent for Windows PC Gamers (RGB Backlit Black). Isn’t it pretty? :)

I can’t wait for it to arrive! I’ve been moving my Redragon keyboard between my two workstations, which isn’t really that tedious. However, sometimes I’ll need to do something small on my standing desk (which has the more powerful computer and some programs that are only on that hard drive), but the keyboard is set up on my kotatsu desk.

I’m working on my kotatsu desk today, but I don’t like it as much since my back feels better when I’m standing instead of sitting. But my ankles are just too sore today, so I’m sitting. It’s really difficult getting comfortable when I work at my computer for such long hours every day.

Ugh! Too much retail procrastination today. Why does it seem to take me so long to get started on my writing? I’m able to focus once I start, but it seems I’m so easily distracted before that.

I have to figure out a way to get started more quickly, to block out all the things that distract me. Perhaps I need a special ritual to prepare me to start writing? Except I don’t know what that could be. Maybe I should Google writing rituals? Is that a weird thing to Google?

***

I had a rather frustrating time today. I was supposed to be doing Snowflake step 4 on volume 7, and I spent a lot of time looking at both volumes 7 and 8, and thinking and brainstorming and taking notes. But it seemed more and more like the events in volume 7 weren’t really necessary to the overall story arc, and finally I decided to trash the story idea I originally had for volume 7. So now what was volume 8 is now volume 7.

Then I had to redo Snowflake step 2 (1-paragraph summary) on my (new) volume 7 since the old plot didn’t quite fit anymore, now that I’d gotten rid of the volume in between.

So all the time I’ve spent today has landed me pretty much where I started—I still have to do Snowflake step 4 on my (new) volume 7. But I figure, it’s a good thing that I realized that the old volume 7 was extraneous before I’d plotted it all out and written it.

Time spent writing: 6 hours, 12 minutes Time spent doing other writing-related business: 2 hours, 56 minutes

My takeaway for today: I really need to figure out how to stop procrastinating and being distracted before I start my writing work. But I’m not sure what I can do about it.

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