Day 337: 5-minute breaks
I hope to get much more done today. I feel better than I did yesterday. My headache is gone today and my IBS doesn't feel too bad, either, but I do have a sore back from doing gardening work, which I did yesterday after I stopped work. I hope it doesn't bother me too much while I'm working.
I'm continuing work on the Hawaii book today. I'll set my Pomodoros for 25 minutes with 5 minute breaks again. However, I will not be doing the editing of my Lady Wynwood's Spies book 1 in my 5 minute breaks, since switching genres was too hard for my yesterday. So instead I'll do Regency nonfiction reading or Japanese flashcards during my breaks.
I have to finish editing that last scene that I was working on yesterday (scene #6), which was giving me problems. I only have one small segment to do, then I'll be done with the scene. Then I can finish writing the one small segment left of the scene after it (scene #7), which I had stopped because I needed the information from scene #6 that I'm editing right now.
Then I only have scene #s 8 and 9 to write, and then I'm done with the book!
(On a geeky gamer sidenote, I found that doing large time duration/large word count monsters in 4thewords.com yesterday worked well when I was editing scene #6. The editing involved a lot of rewriting of passages, so I ended up defeating the monster even though the word count was high. If I was just doing my normal last-pass self-editing, I probably wouldn't be able to defeat the monster since I wouldn't be doing much writing, just deleting and adding a couple words here and there. Also, for the final editing of my manuscript, I prefer to do it in Scrivener because I usually need to doublecheck the formatting, since that’s the version that’ll be compiled into print and ebook.)
***
Well, I finished editing scene #6, and I found out that I added 1200 words! But I’m also a lot happier with the scene and the way it flows.
The problem is that this novella is going way over word count. Trimming this down to 25k is going to be such a pain.
***
Yay! I finished writing scene #7!
When writing, I noticed something a little strange. Back when I first started doing writing sprints, I placed upon myself the urgency to write as fast as I could, because that was the purpose of sprints—targeted, focused writing in quick bursts. But now, even though I’m not doing vomit-writing any more, I’m still feel a small time pressure, a small urgency.
In contrast, when I was doing the revisions to scene #6, even though I set my Pomodoro timer and I did the editing in sprinting bursts, I found myself taking my time. There wasn’t the pressure to work as fast as possible simply because I had never gotten into the habit of it. It was actually quite nice.
But then I switched to writing scene #7, and I suddenly noticed that time pressure and sense of urgency. I hadn’t even noticed before that there was a difference in my mindset when I was writing versus editing. But I noticed it when I could directly compare my editing mindset with my writing mindset, when I switched to the new scene. It was all done unconsciously. How weird! I suppose the pressure to write fast had become a habit since I have been doing vomit writing for a few books now.
I think I need to change my mindset about sprinting when writing. I think it only adds a thin layer of stress upon myself, and that tiny bit of pressure might be a type of stress that hinders my creativity. I should try to have the same mindset as I did when I was doing the editing. The point of sprinting now is not to write as fast as possible, but simply to focus on the task for a set amount of time so that I don’t let myself be distracted.
***
I’m surprised (although I shouldn’t be) that the writing is going much faster for this new scene than it was for the last one. I had a hard time figuring out how to start it, but once I did, the writing has been speeding along. It’s a suspenseful scene rather than an emotional scene, so maybe that’s why.
Since I’m so close to finishing the book, I decided to spend extra time working on it rather than doing other things. However, I’ve worked on the book for about 5 hours now so I think I’ll stop here for today. I just got to the part where it starts turning emotional, so I think that’s a good place to stop. Tomorrow the writing will be a little more challenging, I think.
The Pomodoros seemed to work really well today. Sometimes it seemed like the 25-minute intervals were a bit short, but the short time period enabled me to focus pretty well. I didn’t get distracted, and my mind didn’t wander. Also the short 5-minute break intervals were really good to do a little nonfiction reading, and when I went back to writing, it seemed easier to focus on the writing again for another 25 minutes. So I think I’ll stick with the 25-minute Pomodoros and 5-minute breaks.
The breaks were really useful, especially now that I have something targeted to do during the break periods. I was able to do nonfiction reading, which is usually a really difficult chore for me. And as I mentioned above, it seemed to make it easier for me to focus on the writing again when I went back to work.
Also, I blogged about this before, but it’s worth noting again that it’s easier to think of the writing time in terms of Pomodoros rather than time. It somehow seems like it’s easier and less work when I think, “I’ll do two more Pomodoros” rather than “I’ll do one more hour.”
Tomorrow I’ll hopefully finish the scene, and then I’ll only have one more short scene after that before the book is done.
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 2 hours, 46 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 24 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1520 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 635 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 2 hour, 7 minutes
My takeaway for today: The 5-minute breaks seemed to not only make it easier to focus on the writing again when I went back to work, but they also force me to do things I don’t like doing, such as reading nonfiction.
I'm continuing work on the Hawaii book today. I'll set my Pomodoros for 25 minutes with 5 minute breaks again. However, I will not be doing the editing of my Lady Wynwood's Spies book 1 in my 5 minute breaks, since switching genres was too hard for my yesterday. So instead I'll do Regency nonfiction reading or Japanese flashcards during my breaks.
I have to finish editing that last scene that I was working on yesterday (scene #6), which was giving me problems. I only have one small segment to do, then I'll be done with the scene. Then I can finish writing the one small segment left of the scene after it (scene #7), which I had stopped because I needed the information from scene #6 that I'm editing right now.
Then I only have scene #s 8 and 9 to write, and then I'm done with the book!
(On a geeky gamer sidenote, I found that doing large time duration/large word count monsters in 4thewords.com yesterday worked well when I was editing scene #6. The editing involved a lot of rewriting of passages, so I ended up defeating the monster even though the word count was high. If I was just doing my normal last-pass self-editing, I probably wouldn't be able to defeat the monster since I wouldn't be doing much writing, just deleting and adding a couple words here and there. Also, for the final editing of my manuscript, I prefer to do it in Scrivener because I usually need to doublecheck the formatting, since that’s the version that’ll be compiled into print and ebook.)
***
Well, I finished editing scene #6, and I found out that I added 1200 words! But I’m also a lot happier with the scene and the way it flows.
The problem is that this novella is going way over word count. Trimming this down to 25k is going to be such a pain.
***
Yay! I finished writing scene #7!
When writing, I noticed something a little strange. Back when I first started doing writing sprints, I placed upon myself the urgency to write as fast as I could, because that was the purpose of sprints—targeted, focused writing in quick bursts. But now, even though I’m not doing vomit-writing any more, I’m still feel a small time pressure, a small urgency.
In contrast, when I was doing the revisions to scene #6, even though I set my Pomodoro timer and I did the editing in sprinting bursts, I found myself taking my time. There wasn’t the pressure to work as fast as possible simply because I had never gotten into the habit of it. It was actually quite nice.
But then I switched to writing scene #7, and I suddenly noticed that time pressure and sense of urgency. I hadn’t even noticed before that there was a difference in my mindset when I was writing versus editing. But I noticed it when I could directly compare my editing mindset with my writing mindset, when I switched to the new scene. It was all done unconsciously. How weird! I suppose the pressure to write fast had become a habit since I have been doing vomit writing for a few books now.
I think I need to change my mindset about sprinting when writing. I think it only adds a thin layer of stress upon myself, and that tiny bit of pressure might be a type of stress that hinders my creativity. I should try to have the same mindset as I did when I was doing the editing. The point of sprinting now is not to write as fast as possible, but simply to focus on the task for a set amount of time so that I don’t let myself be distracted.
***
I’m surprised (although I shouldn’t be) that the writing is going much faster for this new scene than it was for the last one. I had a hard time figuring out how to start it, but once I did, the writing has been speeding along. It’s a suspenseful scene rather than an emotional scene, so maybe that’s why.
Since I’m so close to finishing the book, I decided to spend extra time working on it rather than doing other things. However, I’ve worked on the book for about 5 hours now so I think I’ll stop here for today. I just got to the part where it starts turning emotional, so I think that’s a good place to stop. Tomorrow the writing will be a little more challenging, I think.
The Pomodoros seemed to work really well today. Sometimes it seemed like the 25-minute intervals were a bit short, but the short time period enabled me to focus pretty well. I didn’t get distracted, and my mind didn’t wander. Also the short 5-minute break intervals were really good to do a little nonfiction reading, and when I went back to writing, it seemed easier to focus on the writing again for another 25 minutes. So I think I’ll stick with the 25-minute Pomodoros and 5-minute breaks.
The breaks were really useful, especially now that I have something targeted to do during the break periods. I was able to do nonfiction reading, which is usually a really difficult chore for me. And as I mentioned above, it seemed to make it easier for me to focus on the writing again when I went back to work.
Also, I blogged about this before, but it’s worth noting again that it’s easier to think of the writing time in terms of Pomodoros rather than time. It somehow seems like it’s easier and less work when I think, “I’ll do two more Pomodoros” rather than “I’ll do one more hour.”
Tomorrow I’ll hopefully finish the scene, and then I’ll only have one more short scene after that before the book is done.
Outlining: time spent: 0
Blocking: time spent: 0
Editing: Time spent: 2 hours, 46 minutes
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 24 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 1520 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 635 words per hour
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 2 hour, 7 minutes
My takeaway for today: The 5-minute breaks seemed to not only make it easier to focus on the writing again when I went back to work, but they also force me to do things I don’t like doing, such as reading nonfiction.
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