Day 397: Today was a wash
For some reason I haven’t been able to sleep well for the past two nights, and so during the day I was sluggish and tired. I tried doing some work, but each time it was really hard to concentrate, so for the past two days I only did 30-60 minutes of work each day before calling it quits. I don’t usually have sleeping problems, but it’s been very hot at night here in California, plus I still have intermittent IBS issues, so I might have just been too uncomfortable to sleep.
For both days, I did my Japanese study before starting work, and I wondered if that was contributing to my fatigue. But it’s hard for me to say since I woke up feeing tired already. Also I’m reluctant to put off my Japanese study since I’m afraid I won’t do it at all if I don’t do it first thing.
However, today during my Bible reading time, the passage I read made me decide to try again to do my writing work before my Japanese and see how things go. While I consider my Japanese learning to be important, I think that at the end of the day, my writing is more important to me. If doing Japanese might be making me tired when I write, then I should do the writing first. It might make me tired when I do the Japanese instead, but I think ultimately that would be preferable to writing while tired. Also, the Japanese learning has an “end point”—I won’t be doing flashcards and grammar books for more than a couple years, if I’m consistent.
So here I am again, trying to adjust my daily schedule to be more productive.
I’m supposed to work on writing-related business on Saturdays, but since I got so little done on writing this week, I’m going to work on that instead. I’m still doing Snowflake step 8 (scene spreadsheet) and blocking for book 4. I combined the two because I tend to do blocking when I’m deciding how to structure the scene in my scene spreadsheet, so it’s not worth it to separate my tasks into “scene spreadsheet” and “blocking.”
I’m enjoying doing the blocking in 4thewords.com because I can brainstorm when I get stuck on what to have the characters do next, and all my brainstorming words count toward defeating a monster!
In 4thewords, I’m doing one file with my blocking notes for each scene (I also copy the blocking notes into Scrivener). I discovered when writing The Wedding Kimono that I can then start writing in that same file in 4thewords, and the blocking notes will be below my writing where I can refer to them. I delete a blocking note once I’ve written it in the scene, because the blocking notes are already copied in Scrivener. It makes it super easy to write the scene this way.
***
UGH okay I was really really really bad and popped over to check Bookwalker.jp just to see if there were any new free books and of course there were, including the first 4 (full!) volumes of Teasing Master Takagi-san, which are only available free to read for a limited time. On the WaniKani forum boards, the series has been referred to as a good manga for beginner (N5) readers in Japanese. So of course I spent time getting the books and then inputting them in my book catalog, and I will hopefully get to try reading it before it expires. Like electronic library books, the limited time books on Bookwalker don’t open after the expiration date.
I honestly don’t know why I clicked over to the Bookwalker.jp website. Maybe because I was there yesterday and got a bunch of free sample books, and even a couple full free books. Most are for a limited time, but a few were permanently free. So the little hit of endorphins probably are what made me click over today.
I really have no impulse control! And I am REALLY a sucker for free ebooks!
I think I just need to tell myself that I’ll click over onto the website after work everyday (since they add new free books every day). It might curb my impulses to know that I’ll eventually get there to look for more free books, and if I do it everyday, then I won’t feel like I’m missing out if I don’t check RIGHT NOW.
But I am now ready to knuckle down and work!
***
I got some work done, but my mind was so distracted! I got very little done in the 3-ish hours I was working.
To be honest, I wasn’t fighting the distractions very hard. I don’t know why I was so unmotivated to really make the effort to concentrate on work. Maybe I was still tired? I didn’t sleep very well last night, either, and I still have slight IBS discomfort that pops up at random times during the day.
I think I should have just done my Japanese first, because I got only a little work done and now I’m feeling tired and don’t want to do my Japanese study. UGH!
So … what can I do about this?
1) I’m just going to do my Japanese first thing. I’ve really been trying to rearrange things so that I have more energy when writing, but I think I just mentally feel better and have less stress when I get my Japanese done first. And at this point, I think managing my stress is the best solution.
2) Go to bed early and try to get better sleep.
3) Make my diet even more bland than it already is (sigh … that’s depressing …) to try to figure out why my IBS is rumbling rather than calming down. I’m reacting to things that I should have been okay eating.
I’m not even going to bother posting my work times because I got so little done today! GAH!
For both days, I did my Japanese study before starting work, and I wondered if that was contributing to my fatigue. But it’s hard for me to say since I woke up feeing tired already. Also I’m reluctant to put off my Japanese study since I’m afraid I won’t do it at all if I don’t do it first thing.
However, today during my Bible reading time, the passage I read made me decide to try again to do my writing work before my Japanese and see how things go. While I consider my Japanese learning to be important, I think that at the end of the day, my writing is more important to me. If doing Japanese might be making me tired when I write, then I should do the writing first. It might make me tired when I do the Japanese instead, but I think ultimately that would be preferable to writing while tired. Also, the Japanese learning has an “end point”—I won’t be doing flashcards and grammar books for more than a couple years, if I’m consistent.
So here I am again, trying to adjust my daily schedule to be more productive.
I’m supposed to work on writing-related business on Saturdays, but since I got so little done on writing this week, I’m going to work on that instead. I’m still doing Snowflake step 8 (scene spreadsheet) and blocking for book 4. I combined the two because I tend to do blocking when I’m deciding how to structure the scene in my scene spreadsheet, so it’s not worth it to separate my tasks into “scene spreadsheet” and “blocking.”
I’m enjoying doing the blocking in 4thewords.com because I can brainstorm when I get stuck on what to have the characters do next, and all my brainstorming words count toward defeating a monster!
In 4thewords, I’m doing one file with my blocking notes for each scene (I also copy the blocking notes into Scrivener). I discovered when writing The Wedding Kimono that I can then start writing in that same file in 4thewords, and the blocking notes will be below my writing where I can refer to them. I delete a blocking note once I’ve written it in the scene, because the blocking notes are already copied in Scrivener. It makes it super easy to write the scene this way.
***
UGH okay I was really really really bad and popped over to check Bookwalker.jp just to see if there were any new free books and of course there were, including the first 4 (full!) volumes of Teasing Master Takagi-san, which are only available free to read for a limited time. On the WaniKani forum boards, the series has been referred to as a good manga for beginner (N5) readers in Japanese. So of course I spent time getting the books and then inputting them in my book catalog, and I will hopefully get to try reading it before it expires. Like electronic library books, the limited time books on Bookwalker don’t open after the expiration date.
I honestly don’t know why I clicked over to the Bookwalker.jp website. Maybe because I was there yesterday and got a bunch of free sample books, and even a couple full free books. Most are for a limited time, but a few were permanently free. So the little hit of endorphins probably are what made me click over today.
I really have no impulse control! And I am REALLY a sucker for free ebooks!
I think I just need to tell myself that I’ll click over onto the website after work everyday (since they add new free books every day). It might curb my impulses to know that I’ll eventually get there to look for more free books, and if I do it everyday, then I won’t feel like I’m missing out if I don’t check RIGHT NOW.
But I am now ready to knuckle down and work!
***
I got some work done, but my mind was so distracted! I got very little done in the 3-ish hours I was working.
To be honest, I wasn’t fighting the distractions very hard. I don’t know why I was so unmotivated to really make the effort to concentrate on work. Maybe I was still tired? I didn’t sleep very well last night, either, and I still have slight IBS discomfort that pops up at random times during the day.
I think I should have just done my Japanese first, because I got only a little work done and now I’m feeling tired and don’t want to do my Japanese study. UGH!
So … what can I do about this?
1) I’m just going to do my Japanese first thing. I’ve really been trying to rearrange things so that I have more energy when writing, but I think I just mentally feel better and have less stress when I get my Japanese done first. And at this point, I think managing my stress is the best solution.
2) Go to bed early and try to get better sleep.
3) Make my diet even more bland than it already is (sigh … that’s depressing …) to try to figure out why my IBS is rumbling rather than calming down. I’m reacting to things that I should have been okay eating.
I’m not even going to bother posting my work times because I got so little done today! GAH!
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