Day 148: A good writing day
In light of my brainstorming yesterday on my procrastination issue, I'm ready today!
1) I'll set a timer and write for 90 minutes rather than just 60
2) I'll listen to an audiobook for 30 minutes during my breaks
3) I'll start a 2-3 hour monster on 4thewords.com to force me to get back to work within 30 minutes.
4) I'll use a reward system of a snack every 500 words
5) I have my Positive Self-Talk written and ready for me to read when I'm procrastinating. I'll repeat it over and over if I have to!
Yesterday I also experimented with other means of writing besides the Alphasmart, since the keyboard is not as nice as my gaming mechanical keyboard and it also tends to have errors if I write too fast.
I attached my gaming keyboard to a USB/lightning toggle and hooked up my iPad mini with both my keyboard and a charging cable, and I started typing in the Pages app on my iPad mini. it worked great!
The iPad mini is too old and slow for me to be able to surf the web but it saves my document to iCloud so I can open it on my computer later. Yet I'm able to use my nice gaming keyboard to type and I have fewer typing errors than I do on the Alphasmart.
I'm still doing the cycling experiment, so I'll edit what I wrote on Saturday before I start writing.
***
I had a hard time getting into the writing after the editing, and I procrastinated a little bit. I also was distracted during the first 30 minutes because I was playing my game (I know, Bad Camy! even though it was only grinding levels) on the side while I was writing. But after that, I worked with more focus.
I think the reward system worked well, too. I had a nice snack at 500 words and I even forgot my reward at 1000, 1500, and 2000 words. I got a little over 2000 words done!
I'm going to have lunch now.
***
I ended up reading during lunch, so that was good. Now I'm going back to work. The snack reward might be a good thing because I'm in a snack-y mood.
***
Got another good 1.5 hours of writing done! My speed isn't quite as fast as earlier, but that might also be because I discovered a problem with the last scene I was doing. I did some brainstorming to figure out a way to fix it, but then I did some editing of the scene to fix it. I suppose I should have just left it and fixed it later, but I didn't think about it until after I'd already done it.
Unfortunately my brain is starting to feel tired. It's really hard to focus.
***
Went for a walk and came back feeling mentally more refreshed. I think I can put in another hour before I have to cook dinner. Grabbed a glass of wine while I was at it.
***
I only have two short scenes and then I’m done with the rough draft! And since I’ve been doing the cycling, I would only have a few more scenes to edit and then it’s ready to go!
I did all my writing today on my gaming keyboard attached to my iPad mini. In many ways I like it better than using my Alphasmart, since the keyboard is nicer to type on, but I think I write slower on the iPad mini since I can see more lines and move the cursor more easily, and so I sometimes edit when I should just keep going and edit later. I suppose it doesn’t matter too much since I’ll need to do the edits eventually, but it’s probably slowing my creative flow for me to be stopping to do editing.
The cycling really does seem to be helping me conquer my loathing for self-editing. I think that because I'm doing only a short amount, and so soon after I finished writing the rough draft, it makes it easier for me to just do it.
I was worried I’d have a hard time moving into writing after being in editing mode, but so far it hasn’t been too difficult. I usually end up taking a break between the editing and my writing, which might contribute to that transition.
I’ll see if I can crank those scenes out after dinner, but if I end up being too tired, then I can finish them tomorrow.
***
I decided to finish writing tomorrow since I'm feeling tired.
In terms of my procrastination management techniques:
1) I have been writing for 90 minutes at a stretch before taking a break, and so far my back has felt fine. I'm still having a hard time making my breaks shorter, but it helps my productivity to get more done in a longer sprint rather than trying to make sure I squeeze in an extra sprint at the end of the day, when I may not have a lot of time because my breaks have been too long!
2) I didn't listen to audiobooks during my breaks except for one, when I went walking in between my second and third writing sessions. I mostly just forgot. I will try to remember to do that tomorrow and maybe it will help my breaks be a bit shorter for me to make sure I refill the creative well more throughout the day.
3) I ended up needing to do several long time duration monsters on 4thewords to finish a quest, so I couldn't try out only a 2 or 3 hour monster. But even the long time duration monster (it was something ridiculously long, like 10 hours) helped me get back to writing a little faster, I think, since I wanted to make sure I finished the monster in good time.
4) My reward system worked well, too, although I wasn't particularly watching my word count so that I could reward myself with a snack. Most of the time I was like, "Oh, I passed 500 words, so I get to eat a snack."
5) I actually said my Positive Self-Talk paragraph before my writing sessions, and I think that contributed to my overall positive attitude when writing today. I didn't have those "staring blankly at nothing because I don't feel like writing" procrastination moments.
I still need to try to keep my breaks to 30 minutes or less. They were more like 60-90 minutes today.
I realized that all my breaks today centered around food. I've been trying to eat smaller meals throughout the day because that seems to help my IBS, so every time I took a break from writing, I ended up eating.
I also checked social media during my breaks, so I need to cut that out if I want to cut my breaks shorter.
But overall, I had a great writing day!
Editing: Time spent: 20 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 4 hours, 55 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 6552 words
Writing: Average speed: 1403 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 22 minutes
My takeaway for today: Procrastination techniques seem to be working, but I'm going to have to work harder on keeping my breaks shorter tomorrow.
1) I'll set a timer and write for 90 minutes rather than just 60
2) I'll listen to an audiobook for 30 minutes during my breaks
3) I'll start a 2-3 hour monster on 4thewords.com to force me to get back to work within 30 minutes.
4) I'll use a reward system of a snack every 500 words
5) I have my Positive Self-Talk written and ready for me to read when I'm procrastinating. I'll repeat it over and over if I have to!
Yesterday I also experimented with other means of writing besides the Alphasmart, since the keyboard is not as nice as my gaming mechanical keyboard and it also tends to have errors if I write too fast.
I attached my gaming keyboard to a USB/lightning toggle and hooked up my iPad mini with both my keyboard and a charging cable, and I started typing in the Pages app on my iPad mini. it worked great!
The iPad mini is too old and slow for me to be able to surf the web but it saves my document to iCloud so I can open it on my computer later. Yet I'm able to use my nice gaming keyboard to type and I have fewer typing errors than I do on the Alphasmart.
I'm still doing the cycling experiment, so I'll edit what I wrote on Saturday before I start writing.
***
I had a hard time getting into the writing after the editing, and I procrastinated a little bit. I also was distracted during the first 30 minutes because I was playing my game (I know, Bad Camy! even though it was only grinding levels) on the side while I was writing. But after that, I worked with more focus.
I think the reward system worked well, too. I had a nice snack at 500 words and I even forgot my reward at 1000, 1500, and 2000 words. I got a little over 2000 words done!
I'm going to have lunch now.
***
I ended up reading during lunch, so that was good. Now I'm going back to work. The snack reward might be a good thing because I'm in a snack-y mood.
***
Got another good 1.5 hours of writing done! My speed isn't quite as fast as earlier, but that might also be because I discovered a problem with the last scene I was doing. I did some brainstorming to figure out a way to fix it, but then I did some editing of the scene to fix it. I suppose I should have just left it and fixed it later, but I didn't think about it until after I'd already done it.
Unfortunately my brain is starting to feel tired. It's really hard to focus.
***
Went for a walk and came back feeling mentally more refreshed. I think I can put in another hour before I have to cook dinner. Grabbed a glass of wine while I was at it.
***
I only have two short scenes and then I’m done with the rough draft! And since I’ve been doing the cycling, I would only have a few more scenes to edit and then it’s ready to go!
I did all my writing today on my gaming keyboard attached to my iPad mini. In many ways I like it better than using my Alphasmart, since the keyboard is nicer to type on, but I think I write slower on the iPad mini since I can see more lines and move the cursor more easily, and so I sometimes edit when I should just keep going and edit later. I suppose it doesn’t matter too much since I’ll need to do the edits eventually, but it’s probably slowing my creative flow for me to be stopping to do editing.
The cycling really does seem to be helping me conquer my loathing for self-editing. I think that because I'm doing only a short amount, and so soon after I finished writing the rough draft, it makes it easier for me to just do it.
I was worried I’d have a hard time moving into writing after being in editing mode, but so far it hasn’t been too difficult. I usually end up taking a break between the editing and my writing, which might contribute to that transition.
I’ll see if I can crank those scenes out after dinner, but if I end up being too tired, then I can finish them tomorrow.
***
I decided to finish writing tomorrow since I'm feeling tired.
In terms of my procrastination management techniques:
1) I have been writing for 90 minutes at a stretch before taking a break, and so far my back has felt fine. I'm still having a hard time making my breaks shorter, but it helps my productivity to get more done in a longer sprint rather than trying to make sure I squeeze in an extra sprint at the end of the day, when I may not have a lot of time because my breaks have been too long!
2) I didn't listen to audiobooks during my breaks except for one, when I went walking in between my second and third writing sessions. I mostly just forgot. I will try to remember to do that tomorrow and maybe it will help my breaks be a bit shorter for me to make sure I refill the creative well more throughout the day.
3) I ended up needing to do several long time duration monsters on 4thewords to finish a quest, so I couldn't try out only a 2 or 3 hour monster. But even the long time duration monster (it was something ridiculously long, like 10 hours) helped me get back to writing a little faster, I think, since I wanted to make sure I finished the monster in good time.
4) My reward system worked well, too, although I wasn't particularly watching my word count so that I could reward myself with a snack. Most of the time I was like, "Oh, I passed 500 words, so I get to eat a snack."
5) I actually said my Positive Self-Talk paragraph before my writing sessions, and I think that contributed to my overall positive attitude when writing today. I didn't have those "staring blankly at nothing because I don't feel like writing" procrastination moments.
I still need to try to keep my breaks to 30 minutes or less. They were more like 60-90 minutes today.
I realized that all my breaks today centered around food. I've been trying to eat smaller meals throughout the day because that seems to help my IBS, so every time I took a break from writing, I ended up eating.
I also checked social media during my breaks, so I need to cut that out if I want to cut my breaks shorter.
But overall, I had a great writing day!
Editing: Time spent: 20 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 4 hours, 55 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 6552 words
Writing: Average speed: 1403 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 22 minutes
My takeaway for today: Procrastination techniques seem to be working, but I'm going to have to work harder on keeping my breaks shorter tomorrow.
I'm so impressed with your progress! And I love that you're experimenting with all aspects of the writing, from breaks to rewards and even what you write with. Awesome!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jill! I still have a lot that I struggle with, but it helps to have this writing blog to record what I'm having problems with and to brainstorm ways to manage it!
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