Day 233: Sprinting; focus
I woke up a little late again today but not as bad as yesterday, and I don't feel as tired today as I did yesterday, so I'm hopeful I can get more work done today.
Unfortunately, I did check email and Facebook after walking. I had wanted to get to writing after walking but I had gotten a blogging idea while I was out, so I wrote my blog post, but then I logged into Facebook to post it on my page and ended up checking my messages there. I also had a reminder to send an email to my graphic designer, so when I went to do that I ended up checking email, too. The total amount of time was only about 40 minutes, but I do feel a bit guilty that I checked my email before I started working today.
I want to make sure I write today after not writing much yesterday, so I'm going to start with writing and hopefully self-edit later in the day.
***
I did some writing, and realized something that should have been obvious. I've been doing 20 minute sprints today, and taking 5 minute breaks in between, but not leaving my desk during the breaks. When I factor in the break time, and divide my words written by the total time I've been working (3 sprints, a little over an hour), my words per hour rate isn't much different from my 60+ minute sprints.
So, I did a writing session where I simply wrote until I finished a monster in 4thewords.com, which took a little over 30 minutes, and my words per hour rate was about the same.
I had been hoping that certain sprint durations might make me write faster, but I really should have known better that sprinting isn't some magic bullet.
So basically, my stats work yesterday was mostly a waste of time! I was probably just using it to procrastinate writing, which is terrible because blogging about writing is not writing.
However, I think sprints are still helpful, not necessarily to help me write faster, but to help me keep moving forward in the scene and avoid staring at the cursor.
They're also useful to force me to work if I would otherwise be too lazy to sit down and write, or if I needed to get writing done in a short amount of time before I had to do something else. They were useful yesterday to force me to write when I was tired.
Sprints can also be useful if I stop a sprint while in the middle of a monster in 4thewords, because I can take a bathroom break and get back to work to finish the monster before time runs out. It might prevent me from taking a long break after a monster finishes and getting distracted and not getting back to work right away.
I will try some 25 minute sprints next and see how I do.
***
I was feeling tired and about to quit writing, but then I decided to do another sprint and got TWO more 25 minute sprints done. So it really did help me to push through and work a little more when I didn't really feel like it.
I want to build up to 5-6 hours of writing and I only got a little less than 4 hours today.
I actually worried about my writing stamina quite a bit while I was walking today. I want to build up more over time, but I don't know if I can.
I don't understand why I can focus for several hours at a stretch when it's doing other tasks, but when it's writing I tend to be easily distracted. I need to do all these little things to trick myself into not being distracted.
I also don't know how I can make myself just FOCUS. When doing things like working on some self-publishing task, I can focus for hours, but with writing, I feel a bit like a goldfish.
So what will make me focus? I don't know. I'll have to think about this more.
***
I talked over my concerns with my husband, and he pointed out that doing marketing/self-publishing tasks use a different part of my brain than creative writing. My engineer husband had to point that out to me, the psych major! LOL
But he's absolutely right. It could be that the reason I can focus on those types of tasks are because they're using a different part of my brain than I use when I'm writing or plotting. Maybe the creative side of my brain is just easily distractible?
The problem is that I still have the same problem. I don't know how to make myself focus for longer periods on my writing. I'm tempted to say it's just a matter of increasing stamina, but my gut feeling is that it's not just that. The thing is that I don't know for sure what it could be.
For now, I'm going to focus on getting 3 hours of writing and 1 hour of editing done a day. Maybe eventually I can work up to 5-6 hours, but I think just 4 hours is a nice solid number of hours. When I'm in outlining/blocking mode, that 4 hours will be a respectable chunk of time to work.
I'm also planning on 1 hour of email in addition to that 4 hours, so a total of 5 hours.
***
There were some house chores I wanted to do today, but I put them off because I figured I could do them later in the day, after I'd done my writing. But now I'm realizing that's a terrible thing to do, because when I've finished writing, I'm tired and I won't do those chores at all! It's like putting off exercise. I think I'll do it later but then I don't.
I had thought about this a few months ago and had included doing chores in my clearing the decks prep work before writing, but the productivity books I've been reading recently always say to do your writing (and other important things) first, so I had tried putting it off (again). Now I'm remembering that there was a good reason why I did my chores before my writing work for the day.
It may also be good for me to do my chores before writing because for me, writing is not some task I tack onto my day, writing is my day job. Assuming I'm not feeling sick, I will likely get at least some writing done that day.
So I think tomorrow, I will go back to doing my house chores as part of my "clearing the decks" prep work. And now that I think about it, a messy house probably contributes to my cluttered thoughts!
Related to that, I never got around to my editing for the day because I was focused on my writing, and now it's late at night. I think tomorrow, I will also do an hour of editing before I do my writing, to make sure I get it done.
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 4 hours, 11 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 4969 words!!!!
Writing: Average speed: 1463 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 19 minutes
My takeaway for today: Sprints don't seem to necessarily make me write faster, but they can help me to write when I'm tired and tempted to be lazy.
My second takeaway for today: I'll try setting a daily time goal of 3 hours of writing, 1 hour of editing, and 1 hour for email.
My third takeaway for today: I had forgotten that I had a good reason to do my chores as part of "clearing the decks" and I should do that before writing, because writing is my day job. I should also do my editing first, to make sure I get it done.
Unfortunately, I did check email and Facebook after walking. I had wanted to get to writing after walking but I had gotten a blogging idea while I was out, so I wrote my blog post, but then I logged into Facebook to post it on my page and ended up checking my messages there. I also had a reminder to send an email to my graphic designer, so when I went to do that I ended up checking email, too. The total amount of time was only about 40 minutes, but I do feel a bit guilty that I checked my email before I started working today.
I want to make sure I write today after not writing much yesterday, so I'm going to start with writing and hopefully self-edit later in the day.
***
I did some writing, and realized something that should have been obvious. I've been doing 20 minute sprints today, and taking 5 minute breaks in between, but not leaving my desk during the breaks. When I factor in the break time, and divide my words written by the total time I've been working (3 sprints, a little over an hour), my words per hour rate isn't much different from my 60+ minute sprints.
So, I did a writing session where I simply wrote until I finished a monster in 4thewords.com, which took a little over 30 minutes, and my words per hour rate was about the same.
I had been hoping that certain sprint durations might make me write faster, but I really should have known better that sprinting isn't some magic bullet.
So basically, my stats work yesterday was mostly a waste of time! I was probably just using it to procrastinate writing, which is terrible because blogging about writing is not writing.
However, I think sprints are still helpful, not necessarily to help me write faster, but to help me keep moving forward in the scene and avoid staring at the cursor.
They're also useful to force me to work if I would otherwise be too lazy to sit down and write, or if I needed to get writing done in a short amount of time before I had to do something else. They were useful yesterday to force me to write when I was tired.
Sprints can also be useful if I stop a sprint while in the middle of a monster in 4thewords, because I can take a bathroom break and get back to work to finish the monster before time runs out. It might prevent me from taking a long break after a monster finishes and getting distracted and not getting back to work right away.
I will try some 25 minute sprints next and see how I do.
***
I was feeling tired and about to quit writing, but then I decided to do another sprint and got TWO more 25 minute sprints done. So it really did help me to push through and work a little more when I didn't really feel like it.
I want to build up to 5-6 hours of writing and I only got a little less than 4 hours today.
I actually worried about my writing stamina quite a bit while I was walking today. I want to build up more over time, but I don't know if I can.
I don't understand why I can focus for several hours at a stretch when it's doing other tasks, but when it's writing I tend to be easily distracted. I need to do all these little things to trick myself into not being distracted.
I also don't know how I can make myself just FOCUS. When doing things like working on some self-publishing task, I can focus for hours, but with writing, I feel a bit like a goldfish.
So what will make me focus? I don't know. I'll have to think about this more.
***
I talked over my concerns with my husband, and he pointed out that doing marketing/self-publishing tasks use a different part of my brain than creative writing. My engineer husband had to point that out to me, the psych major! LOL
But he's absolutely right. It could be that the reason I can focus on those types of tasks are because they're using a different part of my brain than I use when I'm writing or plotting. Maybe the creative side of my brain is just easily distractible?
The problem is that I still have the same problem. I don't know how to make myself focus for longer periods on my writing. I'm tempted to say it's just a matter of increasing stamina, but my gut feeling is that it's not just that. The thing is that I don't know for sure what it could be.
For now, I'm going to focus on getting 3 hours of writing and 1 hour of editing done a day. Maybe eventually I can work up to 5-6 hours, but I think just 4 hours is a nice solid number of hours. When I'm in outlining/blocking mode, that 4 hours will be a respectable chunk of time to work.
I'm also planning on 1 hour of email in addition to that 4 hours, so a total of 5 hours.
***
There were some house chores I wanted to do today, but I put them off because I figured I could do them later in the day, after I'd done my writing. But now I'm realizing that's a terrible thing to do, because when I've finished writing, I'm tired and I won't do those chores at all! It's like putting off exercise. I think I'll do it later but then I don't.
I had thought about this a few months ago and had included doing chores in my clearing the decks prep work before writing, but the productivity books I've been reading recently always say to do your writing (and other important things) first, so I had tried putting it off (again). Now I'm remembering that there was a good reason why I did my chores before my writing work for the day.
It may also be good for me to do my chores before writing because for me, writing is not some task I tack onto my day, writing is my day job. Assuming I'm not feeling sick, I will likely get at least some writing done that day.
So I think tomorrow, I will go back to doing my house chores as part of my "clearing the decks" prep work. And now that I think about it, a messy house probably contributes to my cluttered thoughts!
Related to that, I never got around to my editing for the day because I was focused on my writing, and now it's late at night. I think tomorrow, I will also do an hour of editing before I do my writing, to make sure I get it done.
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 4 hours, 11 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 4969 words!!!!
Writing: Average speed: 1463 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 1 hour, 19 minutes
My takeaway for today: Sprints don't seem to necessarily make me write faster, but they can help me to write when I'm tired and tempted to be lazy.
My second takeaway for today: I'll try setting a daily time goal of 3 hours of writing, 1 hour of editing, and 1 hour for email.
My third takeaway for today: I had forgotten that I had a good reason to do my chores as part of "clearing the decks" and I should do that before writing, because writing is my day job. I should also do my editing first, to make sure I get it done.
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