Camy's Writing Diary

I had a lot of difficulty doing my Japanese study yesterday after writing—I seriously almost didn’t do it because I was so tired. So today, I just decided to do it this morning before I started work. I’ve had a good streak going with my Japanese, and I’m a bit scared to break that and revert back to not doing it. I spent a bit longer than I wanted to in studying, but I also didn’t spend as much time yesterday so I made up for the time. I actually feel really good that it’s done. I progressed a lot with my studies and was able to get everything done. Yesterday, when I did my Japanese after my writing, I was so tired that I only put in the bare minimum. Today, I did a little extra and I feel very satisfied with what I did today. In contrast to the “meh” feeling I’ve had the past few days of doing my writing first, it seems to make a big difference to me (at least today) to do my Japanese before my writing rather than afterward. I wanted to experiment for several days more, but cons...

I’m finally back after several miserable days, health-wise (either IBS issues or sinus headaches). I did do about 30 minutes of work on Saturday, but eventually gave up because I was too uncomfortable. Since I couldn’t concentrate on work, I did some editing on the Japanese version of The Spinster’s Christmas. I still have a long ways to go, but it feels good when I get some progress on it. Once I’m done with the editing, I’ll probably still need to hire a Japanese proofreader to go over it one more time. Eventually this book will get done and I can re-release the corrected version. Yesterday, I was going to work through the headache pain since it wasn’t too bad in the morning, but I admit I got distracted by reading some forum boards on the Japanese learning websites where I do my SRS flashcards and being directed to some free learning resources available. I suppose it was technically part of my Japanese learning time, but I sill spent several hours looking through some free conte...

(I didn’t post this yesterday, so I’m posting it on Friday.) Today is not starting off well. Although I slept well, I woke up with IBS issues, and after sitting down to work, I’m also feeling some upper back pain. The back pain is likely from using my trackball on a laptop tray table that’s not the right height for my shoulder. Also, yesterday when I was trying to adjust my posture and sitting position, it became obvious that the laptop tray is also too narrow. So I broke down and ordered a new one on Amazon, Laptop Bed Tray Desk, SAIJI Adjustable Laptop Stand for Bed, Foldable Laptop Table with Storage Drawer for Eating, Working, Writing, Gaming, Drawing (Gray, X-Large) . Luckily the one I had put in my wishlist was 30% off. Also, with the adjustable height, I’ll be able to switch sitting positions to different comfortable ones so I’m not stuck in the same position the whole time I’m working. I’m spending such long hours at my desk that it’s become obvious to me that I really...

Maybe because of the heat wave going through California, but I’ve had a recurring headache for the past week, as well as IBS issues. It was too difficult to focus and work when I was so uncomfortable, so I just took several sick days while trying to get my body back under control. I read a lot, which also refilled the creative well , which was honestly feeling a bit dry. I’m easing back into work today. Not sure how much I’ll get done, but I’m not intending to push myself too much since I still have lingering IBS issues. After going through all the Snowflake step 6 (extended synopses) for the rest of the books in the series, I’m a bit impatient to write these books. I want to write these stories, but I also have to admit that a part of me just likes the idea of having the series done sooner rather than later. I think it’s what James Scott Bell (I think it was him) referred to as, “I don’t want to write, I want to have written.” I fully admit I love the feeling of satisfaction when...

Today is another day to try out my reorganized daily schedule. I did two of my “frogs” this morning—chores and my Daily Bible reading (I really shouldn’t call my Bible reading a “frog,” because it’s important and I’m glad I do it, it’s just that it’s one of those things that would slide to the wayside if I didn’t do it first thing in the morning)—and now I’m about to start writing work. Later this afternoon, I’ll do my two other “frogs,” exercise and my Japanese language study. The whole point of this is so that I can do some work early in the day when I’m mentally the freshest, but quite honestly, I don’t feel very mentally fresh right now. I guess I’ll just have to try it and see. I have two plot problems to solve, so I’ll see how easy or hard they might be for me to concentrate on. *** Maybe it’s just because today’s hot and uncomfortable, but I had a hard time focusing when I started work. Or maybe it just naturally takes me a little while to get into the work and really be a...

I got up a little earlier today and I’m ready to start my new rearranged schedule. I did my chores and my daily Bible reading, but I will put off my exercise and Japanese language study until later in the afternoon so that I can start work a bit sooner. I hope I will still do both of them despite not doing them first thing. I can totally see myself being too lazy to do them later. Last night, I found two plot problems in the side novel synopsis that I’ll have to fix today. I’m really grateful for 4thewords.com especially at times like these where I can free write to brainstorm, and defeat monsters at the same time! It makes it fun to tackle plot problems, which otherwise might frustrate me. *** I don’t know for sure if I was able to think better by starting work sooner after I got up, but it did feel good to have some work done before I went for a walk in the afternoon. It helped that I put an alarm on my phone to go off when it was time for me to go walking, so I could find a...

Recently, I’ve been going to bed late and getting up late. A part of me wonders if this is really healthy, but the rebel part of me thinks that I should just stick with a schedule that works for me and lets me get my work done. The big problem I have is that I’m following the adage to eat my “frogs” first thing after I wake up. My frogs are my chores, exercise, my daily Bible reading, and my Japanese language study. All four are things that are important to me, but I have a tendency not to do them if I don’t do them before I start my writing work. But if I do those four things before work, they take a lot of time, and then when I start writing work, my brain is a little tired. That’s not very efficient or productive for my writing. So I was wondering how I could reorder things so that I can start writing work with a fresher mental state, but still get my frogs done each day. I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits ...

I got a lot done this weekend! I caught up on my email Inbox and Facebook messages. I also got a little bit of work done on my Japanese Spinster’s Christmas self-publishing project (editing the furigana). The book is published, but after doing the Japanese Sushi for One version and learning more about Japanese publishing standards, I’m editing the furigana for The Spinster’s Christmas to better reflect those standards, and then I’ll resubmit the print book (which costs money every time I submit a new version on LIghtningSource). Editing The Spinster’s Christmas will take a really long time, but if I do a little bit at a time, eventually it’ll get done.  I spent most of Sunday reading and refilling the creative well . I hadn’t read very much this past week, so I’m glad I got a chance to binge read. I hope it tides me over until next weekend. I’ll try this batching method and see if it works okay. It seems easier for me to batch my writing during the weekdays and my reading in a larg...

I was listening to the audiobook, Productivity For Authors: Find Time to Write, Organize your Author Life, and Decide what Really Matters by Joanna Penn (she has such a nice speaking voice!) and she talked about scheduling your writing. I recently started making a more detailed schedule of my day in my electronic bullet journal ( Day One ), and while I never would have thought I’d appreciate something so detailed, it’s actually been really interesting and useful. I’ve noticed that the detailed schedule in my journal has made me confront what exactly I do during the day. If I don’t follow the schedule, I have to justify to myself why I’m spending time on something, and if it’s derailing my productivity. Sometimes I derail my productivity mindlessly, like when I got distracted a few days ago and didn’t even realize it until afterward. Btu not everyday has been like that. Other times, I have to consciously decide if I’m going to do something not on the schedule. I have to admit, th...

I got some more work done last night thanks to something I heard when I was listening to the audiobook Ultralearning . I listened to the audiobook originally to help me with my Japanese language study, but it also talks about focusing for learning, which can be applied to focusing for writing. One thing he mentioned was about a psychology study where people were tested on their performance on cognitive tasks when they were tired or energetic, and when they were listening to music or not. Music for someone who has energy seemed to overstimulate them, while music for people who were tired enabled them to perform better. So the book suggests you try to manipulate your energy levels when you use music or not during study sessions. Last night, I thought I might use that technique for my writing. Lately, in order to help me focus more intently when I work, I haven’t been listening to music, which is what is recommended in the book Deep Work . But I thought I might try using music for my ...

I was pretty good about doing my house chores and other things in my clearing the decks ritual, but my Japanese language study ended up taking a long time. It’s partly because I reorganized my study system yesterday and I’m still ironing out the bugs, but also I had lapsed on my study for a long time so there was a lot to catch up on. However, it took up 2.5 hours today. I have consciously decided to make my Japanese a priority, but I still feel a bit guilty that I took so much time to do it and I haven’t started work on my book yet today. However, I’m also skipping my walk today because my IBS is acting up (and it gets worse when I walk), so I suppose I’m just using the time I would otherwise have spent exercising.  I also adjusted my study system so tomorrow I’ll be able to get through everything I need to but it won’t take so long. I actually did some more work on my writing last night, so I’m including the time spent on that in my totals below. I ran into a plot problem with...

Today didn’t start off too well. I woke up with another headache, so I had a slow start after getting up. I also had more messages to answer on Facebook so I went ahead and did that to get it out of the way. As part of my clearing the decks ritual, I’ve been doing my Japanese flashcards before work, but today I decided to spend a little extra time on it. I had been thinking of restructuring my Japanese learning for a while now, so I went ahead and organized my flashcards for kanji, vocabulary, and also grammar. A part of me worries about taking too much time to do my Japanese before getting to my writing work, but I know that if I don’t do it before work, it’s never going to get done. And the Japanese learning is important to me personally. I would really like to be proficient enough one day to be able to translate my fiction into Japanese, and maybe only needing an editor to smooth it out. I’m really far from there right now, but I hope I can get there, if I study diligently. *...