Day 318: Writing business stuff on writing days
I listened to the Dear Writer, You Need to Quit audiobook during my walk today and it talked about setting expectations. If your expectations of yourself are too high, or can't be sustained at a certain level for long-term, you might burn yourself out.
The author had mentioned systems before in an earlier chapter, and she talked about how our systems are complex things composed of many different things. If you cause stress to your system, depending on the type and amount of stress, the system will not necessarily accommodate. Some parts of the system might fail, which will lead to burn out and/or mental distress and/or health problems.
So I guess the takeaway is to determine the type and amount of stress that your system can handle, and don't exceed it. I don't think the author was discouraging trying hard, but instead just saying that that kind of strenuous effort can't be sustained for too long or it will cause detriment to your overall health.
It made me recall the latter half of last year when I was just developing my current writing routine and trying to improve productivity. I was really excited that I could improve the speed at which I could produce a book, but I also wasn't refilling the creative well--I wasn't replenishing my energy. So I had a couple weeks of mental shut-down at the beginning of December last year.
I still would like to put out books quickly--and since I'm self-publishing, I'm putting out books much faster than I would with a traditional publisher. When I was with Zondervan, I was putting out a 90,000 word book every 9 months. I released the first three books of my Regency series (each an average of 90,000 words) every 2 months. Book 4 is going to be at least 3 months (maybe 4 months) after the release of the previous book because I my health was so poor in March and I got behind in writing the Contemporary novella I'm working on now. But even 4 months is much faster than my Zondervan schedule.
I started this slower writing pace because it results in more polished writing, since I'm editing-as-I-go and being more thoughtful about the editing, rather than self-editing a very rough first draft. I didn't magically increase the number of hours I have during the day to work since I still have home responsibilities, so I'll probably be drafting fewer words per day (although self-editing may be significantly less time, so this might not necessarily be true).
I don't know if I could still write a Regency every 2 months like I have been. I'd like to try, but I also want to see how much stress my system can reasonably take, and I also want to make sure I replenish my energy so I'm not burning more than I'm refilling.
So while I was walking I considered how I can make reading more of a priority in my day without impacting my writing time too much. When I don't give myself enough time to read, I tend to skip on my research reading, which can be really bad. There are a lot of nonfiction books I would like to read for my Regency series.
If I limit my writing to 4-5 hours (rather than aiming for 6 hours like before), I'll have about 3 hours for reading, and I can take an hour for research reading. I think this might be a better use of my time, because I won't be burning as much of my energy with writing each day, I'll be reading to replenish my energy, and I'll be doing the research I need to do.
So today, since I'm cooking dinner tonight, I'll aim for 4 hours of working, which will leave an hour for blogging and 3 hours for reading. I'll see how that works out.
***
Ugh I got a bit distracted. There were some writing-related business I had to do today, and I was intending to do them after I did my writing today, but I ended up doing some of it in the middle of my writing session! I don't know why I do that. I do know that the thought of those little things to be done was nagging at me, which might have been why I decided to do it, so that I wouldn't keep thinking about it. Even though I wanted to only think about my writing, maybe I should just get that stuff done and get it out of the way.
***
I went ahead and finished the business things I had to do today--mostly related to the re-launch of my devotional book with a new cover. One of the other authors suggested it and spearheaded it, so I haven't had much to do, but today I had to upload the new cover, .epub and interior .pdf to all the book distributors in anticipation of the re-launch next week Wednesday. Once that was done, I had to send some emails, and I ended up clearing my inbox while I was at it (which I probably shouldn't have done, but once I saw it, it was really hard to leave it full! I'm just that way.)
I'm glad it's out of the way, but doing all that stuff online really does cause me a certain amount of stress. I'm going to have to take a break and then hopefully get back to writing after that.
It's really frustrating because it takes me a while to get out of that business mindset into writing, so I wanted to write first and do the business stuff later. But while writing, the thought of those things that needed to be done nagged at me and distracted me, and eventually I just gave in and did that stuff to get it all off my plate. But whether doing it first before work, or doing it now in the middle of work, I still have to reset my mindset before I can start writing, and I lose the time and energy I have to spend to do that.
I wish I could have just ignored the nagging but I know by now that it's really difficult for me to do that. I think it's just my personality--I like getting stuff on my To Do list done first so that I can clear my desk, so to speak, before writing. It's easier for me to write when I don't have any small tasks that could distract me.
***
I took a break and did some house chores, which were essentially more stuff on the To Do list, but house chores tend not to nag at me quite as much as writing-business stuff. I think it's because the business stuff had to be done today and a part of me was worried I might forget to do it. In contrast, if I don't do house chores that day, it's not that big a deal. It's probably the greater importance and urgency of the business stuff that makes it distract me more than house chores.
I ended up started a really long word count/time limit monster on 4thewords.com, so I feel a bit more relaxed as I'm writing since I don't have to worry about a quick time limit (as in, an hour or less). The monster doesn't have too many words for the generous time limit, and I'm relatively confident I'll finish it in plenty of time and won't be scrambling later.
***
Before I knew it, it was time to eat dinner and I'd only done another hour of writing. I had forgotten that the extra time spent doing writing-related business would cut into my writing time.
It didn't occur to me yesterday, but if it's possible, I should do these types of business-things the day before, after I do my writing. Sometimes it's not possible--sometimes there are time-sensitive things I need to do on a certain day and I can't do it the day before.
But if there are things I could do after writing, I should try to set alarms and reminders for me to do it after writing (so I don't forget, because I can totally see myself forgetting to do this stuff after I've finished writing for the day).
Or maybe I should try to schedule these things for weekends. I didn't do that for this, because the re-launch date is next week Wednesday and Saturday might have been cutting it a little close. Maybe I could have done it last week Saturday? It would have been up five or six days extra, but I don't think that would have been too bad.
I hadn't thought of that option before, but now that's sounding like a really good idea. That way I won't have to even think about these kinds of business-related things on writing days. I think I will make revisions on the notes I have for my book launches so that I do that from now on.
It doesn't excuse the fact that I did get distracted while writing. I had forgotten to set a Pomodoro timer again, so I need to remember to do that tomorrow. That might help me stay focused during the Pomodoro and not let my mind wander so much.
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 3 hours, 27 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1055 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 306 words/hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 2 hours, 28 minutes
My takeaway for today: If it's possible, I should do writing-related business things the day before they're due, after I do my writing, or deliberately schedule them for Saturdays.
My second takeaway for today: Remember to set your Pomodoro timer!
The author had mentioned systems before in an earlier chapter, and she talked about how our systems are complex things composed of many different things. If you cause stress to your system, depending on the type and amount of stress, the system will not necessarily accommodate. Some parts of the system might fail, which will lead to burn out and/or mental distress and/or health problems.
So I guess the takeaway is to determine the type and amount of stress that your system can handle, and don't exceed it. I don't think the author was discouraging trying hard, but instead just saying that that kind of strenuous effort can't be sustained for too long or it will cause detriment to your overall health.
It made me recall the latter half of last year when I was just developing my current writing routine and trying to improve productivity. I was really excited that I could improve the speed at which I could produce a book, but I also wasn't refilling the creative well--I wasn't replenishing my energy. So I had a couple weeks of mental shut-down at the beginning of December last year.
I still would like to put out books quickly--and since I'm self-publishing, I'm putting out books much faster than I would with a traditional publisher. When I was with Zondervan, I was putting out a 90,000 word book every 9 months. I released the first three books of my Regency series (each an average of 90,000 words) every 2 months. Book 4 is going to be at least 3 months (maybe 4 months) after the release of the previous book because I my health was so poor in March and I got behind in writing the Contemporary novella I'm working on now. But even 4 months is much faster than my Zondervan schedule.
I started this slower writing pace because it results in more polished writing, since I'm editing-as-I-go and being more thoughtful about the editing, rather than self-editing a very rough first draft. I didn't magically increase the number of hours I have during the day to work since I still have home responsibilities, so I'll probably be drafting fewer words per day (although self-editing may be significantly less time, so this might not necessarily be true).
I don't know if I could still write a Regency every 2 months like I have been. I'd like to try, but I also want to see how much stress my system can reasonably take, and I also want to make sure I replenish my energy so I'm not burning more than I'm refilling.
So while I was walking I considered how I can make reading more of a priority in my day without impacting my writing time too much. When I don't give myself enough time to read, I tend to skip on my research reading, which can be really bad. There are a lot of nonfiction books I would like to read for my Regency series.
If I limit my writing to 4-5 hours (rather than aiming for 6 hours like before), I'll have about 3 hours for reading, and I can take an hour for research reading. I think this might be a better use of my time, because I won't be burning as much of my energy with writing each day, I'll be reading to replenish my energy, and I'll be doing the research I need to do.
So today, since I'm cooking dinner tonight, I'll aim for 4 hours of working, which will leave an hour for blogging and 3 hours for reading. I'll see how that works out.
***
Ugh I got a bit distracted. There were some writing-related business I had to do today, and I was intending to do them after I did my writing today, but I ended up doing some of it in the middle of my writing session! I don't know why I do that. I do know that the thought of those little things to be done was nagging at me, which might have been why I decided to do it, so that I wouldn't keep thinking about it. Even though I wanted to only think about my writing, maybe I should just get that stuff done and get it out of the way.
***
I went ahead and finished the business things I had to do today--mostly related to the re-launch of my devotional book with a new cover. One of the other authors suggested it and spearheaded it, so I haven't had much to do, but today I had to upload the new cover, .epub and interior .pdf to all the book distributors in anticipation of the re-launch next week Wednesday. Once that was done, I had to send some emails, and I ended up clearing my inbox while I was at it (which I probably shouldn't have done, but once I saw it, it was really hard to leave it full! I'm just that way.)
I'm glad it's out of the way, but doing all that stuff online really does cause me a certain amount of stress. I'm going to have to take a break and then hopefully get back to writing after that.
It's really frustrating because it takes me a while to get out of that business mindset into writing, so I wanted to write first and do the business stuff later. But while writing, the thought of those things that needed to be done nagged at me and distracted me, and eventually I just gave in and did that stuff to get it all off my plate. But whether doing it first before work, or doing it now in the middle of work, I still have to reset my mindset before I can start writing, and I lose the time and energy I have to spend to do that.
I wish I could have just ignored the nagging but I know by now that it's really difficult for me to do that. I think it's just my personality--I like getting stuff on my To Do list done first so that I can clear my desk, so to speak, before writing. It's easier for me to write when I don't have any small tasks that could distract me.
***
I took a break and did some house chores, which were essentially more stuff on the To Do list, but house chores tend not to nag at me quite as much as writing-business stuff. I think it's because the business stuff had to be done today and a part of me was worried I might forget to do it. In contrast, if I don't do house chores that day, it's not that big a deal. It's probably the greater importance and urgency of the business stuff that makes it distract me more than house chores.
I ended up started a really long word count/time limit monster on 4thewords.com, so I feel a bit more relaxed as I'm writing since I don't have to worry about a quick time limit (as in, an hour or less). The monster doesn't have too many words for the generous time limit, and I'm relatively confident I'll finish it in plenty of time and won't be scrambling later.
***
Before I knew it, it was time to eat dinner and I'd only done another hour of writing. I had forgotten that the extra time spent doing writing-related business would cut into my writing time.
It didn't occur to me yesterday, but if it's possible, I should do these types of business-things the day before, after I do my writing. Sometimes it's not possible--sometimes there are time-sensitive things I need to do on a certain day and I can't do it the day before.
But if there are things I could do after writing, I should try to set alarms and reminders for me to do it after writing (so I don't forget, because I can totally see myself forgetting to do this stuff after I've finished writing for the day).
Or maybe I should try to schedule these things for weekends. I didn't do that for this, because the re-launch date is next week Wednesday and Saturday might have been cutting it a little close. Maybe I could have done it last week Saturday? It would have been up five or six days extra, but I don't think that would have been too bad.
I hadn't thought of that option before, but now that's sounding like a really good idea. That way I won't have to even think about these kinds of business-related things on writing days. I think I will make revisions on the notes I have for my book launches so that I do that from now on.
It doesn't excuse the fact that I did get distracted while writing. I had forgotten to set a Pomodoro timer again, so I need to remember to do that tomorrow. That might help me stay focused during the Pomodoro and not let my mind wander so much.
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 0
Writing: Time spent: 3 hours, 27 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1055 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 306 words/hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 2 hours, 28 minutes
My takeaway for today: If it's possible, I should do writing-related business things the day before they're due, after I do my writing, or deliberately schedule them for Saturdays.
My second takeaway for today: Remember to set your Pomodoro timer!
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