Day 351: Need to plan dinner beforehand

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I got another late start to the day. I don’t know why I can’t get to bed sooner! I was up reading.

I did everything to clear the decks before starting work, but I got distracted for about 30 minutes trying to figure out what to cook for dinner tonight. I had forgotten that stuff like this is why I had put it down on my bullet journal to do this stuff on Sundays. That way I don’t spend time trying to figure this stuff out during the work week. Making decisions takes so long for me, so doing it on a non-work day is much more efficient, but I had neglected to do it this weekend.

When I first got IBS and looked at the low-FODMAP diet, I had gotten depressed since a lot of the recipes I saw were terribly unappealing. But since then I’ve done more internet searches and found some low-FODMAP recipes that don’t look too bad. I will need to buy some ingredients, however, so I had to come up with something I can make with what I’ve got.

However, that took some time away so now I feel like I’m trying to play catch up with all the other things I need to do.

I’ll be continuing to read through my Regency novels to remember what happened in the series before starting work on book 4. I did wonder yesterday if I was just procrastinating, but since I usually take it a bit easy after finishing a book, I don’t think this is too bad. I’m still doing work (light editing of the books) as well as reminding myself of the characters and plot. It’s not as mentally intensive as writing, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing for the week or two after finishing a novel.

I’m also glad for a lighter work schedule this week because my IBS isn’t bad, but it is bothering me a little bit. It’s a bit distracting during the day. I also found that it doesn’t bother me as much if I have something in my stomach, so I need to remember to eat something small every couple hours. It’s usually not a problem since I tend to snack while I’m working, but I don’t always snack and it’s not consisent. I don’t want to set a timer because that might jolt me out of a period of intense concentration, so sometimes I need to take a little extra time during breaks to make sure I eat something.

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I got quite a bit of reading done because there wasn’t much I felt needed editing. I suppose it’s always like this—the first few chapters are always rougher than the rest, even though I tend to spend the most time on the first few chapters. I wonder why that is? Theoretically, the extra time spent going over it and editing what I’ve written should make it more polished.

I was hoping to work about 6 hours today, but I started getting tired and it’s getting pretty late (since I got a late start today). So I’m going to stop and hopefully get up earlier tomorrow!

Outlining: time spent: 0

Blocking: time spent: 0

Editing: Time spent: 4 hours, 13 minutes

Writing: Time spent: 0

Writing: Total number of words: n/a

Writing: Overall writing speed: n/a

Time spent doing other writing-related business: 35 minutes

My takeaway for today: Remember to decide on what to cook for the week on Sundays so you don’t waste time doing it during the week!

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