Day 128: Finding a trick to use for productivity
I took another sick day yesterday, so I didn’t post, and while I got a late start today and I’m still not 100%, I want to get some work done on my Reader Magnet.
I’m still doing my experiment of switching workstations to cause less stress and injury to my body, since using only my standing desk or only my sitting desk causes problems. Today I’m writing a little bit outside in a deck chair. Most of my yard is pretty ugly since we stopped watering the grass when there was that drought a few years ago, but this is the corner of the yard, which is my view as I’m writing today:
Something about the green trees is rather soothing, so I’m hopeful I can get a lot done while I’m out here. I’m on my Alphasmart and I started a 2-hour monster on 4thewords.com, but I intend to switch to my standing desk after an hour, so I won’t have any problems with my word count or finishing on time.
***
When I first started using 4thewords, I didn't like the large word count monsters because they seemed intimidating. After all, 1500 or 2000 words is at least an hour, sometimes two, and it seemed daunting to commit to working for that long.
But I realized that the large word count monsters tend to also have very generous time limits. The 2000 word Tambo has something like a 5 or 6 hour time limit, so I can start it, work on it for a little while, take a long break and come back to it, and still have plenty of time to finish it.
One of the things I realized because of journalling is that I will often have a hard time starting up work again after a break. It's one of the reasons I try not to take breaks too often (the other reason is that my breaks are often not 5 or 10 minutes, but usually closer to 20 or 30).
So I've been taking advantage of large word count and long time limit monsters by starting a long time limit monster (or making sure I'm in the middle of a long time limit monster) just before going on a break. That way it forces me to get back to work rather than procrastinating.
Not every writer has this issue with starting up work, but I've known a fair number who do. Even if you don't use something like 4thewords, there can be something you use to force yourself to get back to work after taking a break.
There's no shame in this. Writing is hard work, and so I think my brain just wants to be lazy and play around before getting back to the grind. But I'm trying to treat my writing like a job, and so I've been trying to put in the same number of hours that I would if I were working in biology research again (well, maybe not exactly the same, because I now have more home chores than I did when I was a biologist).
I tried lots of other reward systems to try to get myself to get back to work faster, but 4thewords has by far been the best and easiest. It's because I enjoy fantasy RPGs so much, I think. Also, I realized I need an external source (the game) to force myself to work, and relying on an internal source (my own will and determination) isn't enough.
So if I have to use a "trick" like starting a large word count monster on 4thewords in order to force myself to get back to work, then I'll do it. After all, the goal of this whole daily writing blog is to try to improve my productivity.
Anyway, I successfully switched workstations twice today and my body feels okay. I got almost 4000 words done today, which was great considering most of the day was sucked up by house chores (there always seems to be a lot of house chores after I've had a sick day). I also didn't record the writing time when I was planning and setting up my workstation for the next scene, so while it's only 3 hours below, my total writing time was probably more like 4 hours.
I think I'll do a little more writing after I post this blog post, but the writing time and words will be included with tomorrow. (Since Toggl runs from midnight to midnight, I'm too lazy to try to subtract my post-midnight worktime from my daytime worktime tomorrow.)
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 55 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 3928
Writing: Average speed: 1409 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 34 minutes (but I forgot to start the timer for my blogging time so this is a little more)
My takeaway for today: There's no shame in using a "trick" like a long time duration monster to force myself to get back to work after a break.
I’m still doing my experiment of switching workstations to cause less stress and injury to my body, since using only my standing desk or only my sitting desk causes problems. Today I’m writing a little bit outside in a deck chair. Most of my yard is pretty ugly since we stopped watering the grass when there was that drought a few years ago, but this is the corner of the yard, which is my view as I’m writing today:
Something about the green trees is rather soothing, so I’m hopeful I can get a lot done while I’m out here. I’m on my Alphasmart and I started a 2-hour monster on 4thewords.com, but I intend to switch to my standing desk after an hour, so I won’t have any problems with my word count or finishing on time.
***
When I first started using 4thewords, I didn't like the large word count monsters because they seemed intimidating. After all, 1500 or 2000 words is at least an hour, sometimes two, and it seemed daunting to commit to working for that long.
But I realized that the large word count monsters tend to also have very generous time limits. The 2000 word Tambo has something like a 5 or 6 hour time limit, so I can start it, work on it for a little while, take a long break and come back to it, and still have plenty of time to finish it.
One of the things I realized because of journalling is that I will often have a hard time starting up work again after a break. It's one of the reasons I try not to take breaks too often (the other reason is that my breaks are often not 5 or 10 minutes, but usually closer to 20 or 30).
So I've been taking advantage of large word count and long time limit monsters by starting a long time limit monster (or making sure I'm in the middle of a long time limit monster) just before going on a break. That way it forces me to get back to work rather than procrastinating.
Not every writer has this issue with starting up work, but I've known a fair number who do. Even if you don't use something like 4thewords, there can be something you use to force yourself to get back to work after taking a break.
There's no shame in this. Writing is hard work, and so I think my brain just wants to be lazy and play around before getting back to the grind. But I'm trying to treat my writing like a job, and so I've been trying to put in the same number of hours that I would if I were working in biology research again (well, maybe not exactly the same, because I now have more home chores than I did when I was a biologist).
I tried lots of other reward systems to try to get myself to get back to work faster, but 4thewords has by far been the best and easiest. It's because I enjoy fantasy RPGs so much, I think. Also, I realized I need an external source (the game) to force myself to work, and relying on an internal source (my own will and determination) isn't enough.
So if I have to use a "trick" like starting a large word count monster on 4thewords in order to force myself to get back to work, then I'll do it. After all, the goal of this whole daily writing blog is to try to improve my productivity.
Anyway, I successfully switched workstations twice today and my body feels okay. I got almost 4000 words done today, which was great considering most of the day was sucked up by house chores (there always seems to be a lot of house chores after I've had a sick day). I also didn't record the writing time when I was planning and setting up my workstation for the next scene, so while it's only 3 hours below, my total writing time was probably more like 4 hours.
I think I'll do a little more writing after I post this blog post, but the writing time and words will be included with tomorrow. (Since Toggl runs from midnight to midnight, I'm too lazy to try to subtract my post-midnight worktime from my daytime worktime tomorrow.)
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 55 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 3928
Writing: Average speed: 1409 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 34 minutes (but I forgot to start the timer for my blogging time so this is a little more)
My takeaway for today: There's no shame in using a "trick" like a long time duration monster to force myself to get back to work after a break.
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