Day 490: Social media and email streak
Marketing:
I ended up needing to get some marketing materials done before I started work today, because, quite frankly, I had forgotten to do them. :P
I had to write my newsletter for going out tomorrow, and I also had to catch up on some discussions relating to the multi-author anthology that's releasing next week. So I wrote my newsletters and a blog post for release day, and got caught up (I think) on all the messages I'd forgotten to check this past week.
Social media and email:
I've griped about this before, but social media and email are the things that suck the most of my energy out of me. They are the things I dislike doing the most. I tried doing them before my daily writing work, but I ended up feeling tired and cranky when I tried to write. I tried doing them after the writing, but I ended up NOT doing them at all because I was too tired from the writing.
I tried shunting it all to one day of the week, but that also ended up not happening most of the time because I was too stressed and overwhelmed by the messages and email, and I admit I just stuck my head in the sand and ignored it.
I've realized I probably need to do a little bit every day. This is one of those "frogs" that I should do first thing in my day because otherwise I won't get it done at all. The problem is that social media and email stress me out so much that my writing efficiency goes down the toilet. And if I happen to get some snide comment from a Facebook troll, I am so sensitive to that kind of stuff that it will derail my emotional state for the rest of the day.
I have to figure out what to do about this. I have to be more disciplined and check my email every day after I finish my writing for the day. I can't be lazy or straightup avoid my email and social media just because I don't like doing it.
Maybe I can try a streak with my email just like with my writing. It's kind of pathetic, but I'm desperate to have more self-discipline, and if a public accounting is the only way to get me to do something I dislike, then so be it.
New writing routine:
I'm continuing the new routine I set up yesterday, although I think I'll adjust it a bit. I think I'll do the editing first so that I can refresh myself on the scene I just finished, and then get to writing for today.
While my minimum requirement for my writing streak is 15 minutes, I've actually been pushing myself to make it to 1500 words a day if possible, because then I can finish the book in about 60 days. If I take longer than 60 days, it's not a big deal, but it would be nice if I could publish this in 2 months, assuming my health holds.
***
Editing:
I finished self-editing a scene today! For me, this is a total win, since I hate self-editing so much.
***
Editing first versus writing first:
I realized when I started writing that my brain was already a bit tired, maybe from doing the marketing first today, but also I think from doing the editing first. I had thought that refreshing myself with the previous scene would be good for writing the next one, but maybe I need to do the writing when I’m freshest, especially since I’ve been suffering from some fatigue lately. I think I’d rather be tired while editing rather than while writing.
After I finish this second scene, I think I’ll try instead writing first and then editing after I’ve finished my word count for the day, and see how I feel.
Reading my blocking notes:
I completely forgot to read through my blocking notes before I started writing. I’m not sure why I spaced out like that, but I wrote 700 words from the wrong character’s point of view.
::Facepalm::
I think I managed to salvage only about 350 words. The rest had to be rewritten.
When doing my writing totals for today, I waffled over if I should include the time and words I wrote that I ended up needing to trash. But then I decided to include them all, since I’m not recording the total manuscript words here, just the work I actually did today.
Research:
Despite the time I had spent on blocking the scene I’m writing right now, I had forgotten to research the choreography for the sparring movements. I suppose I could have researched it later and just left a [sparring here] note, but there were two sequences like that, and the dialogue in between and afterward was dependent on the characters’ positions on the ground.
I’m also a bit paranoid about writing something physically impossible to execute and then needing to figure something out later. I’d rather work with what’s actually possible, and then write the dialogue and action around it.
Despite the time I had to take to do research, my writing speed was still about the same as yesterday. So maybe my writing speed was faster after I’d figured out the sparring sequence, making up for the time it took to research it. It did seem like the words were flowing better at that segment. Or maybe I just enjoy writing action sequences.
***
Breaks:
Once again, breaks are my downfall. I took a break to eat dinner and ended up feeling so tired that I decided to stop for the day, even though I haven’t gotten any blocking done. I’m a little disappointed in myself, but then again, when I look at my day, I didn’t waste a lot of time, and I got almost 6 hours of work done (combination of writing and the marketing I did earlier). I had maybe a few more house chores to do today, which might be why I’m tired. I ended up getting some reading done during dinner, and I updated my book catalog with some new books, and now I think I’ll go to bed a little early. I hope I can get more done tomorrow.
***
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 41 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 2658 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 989 words/hour
Writing streak: 3 days
Editing: Time spent: 48 minutes
Blocking: time spent: 0
Email/Social Media streak: 1 days
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 2 hours, 23 minutes
My takeaway for today: Try doing an email/social media streak to develop the self-discipline to do it.
My second takeaway for today: Next time, try doing the writing first before the editing, to see if it’s better for me to write when I’m fresher.
My third takeaway for today: Remember to read your blocking notes before you start writing, dummy!
I ended up needing to get some marketing materials done before I started work today, because, quite frankly, I had forgotten to do them. :P
I had to write my newsletter for going out tomorrow, and I also had to catch up on some discussions relating to the multi-author anthology that's releasing next week. So I wrote my newsletters and a blog post for release day, and got caught up (I think) on all the messages I'd forgotten to check this past week.
Social media and email:
I've griped about this before, but social media and email are the things that suck the most of my energy out of me. They are the things I dislike doing the most. I tried doing them before my daily writing work, but I ended up feeling tired and cranky when I tried to write. I tried doing them after the writing, but I ended up NOT doing them at all because I was too tired from the writing.
I tried shunting it all to one day of the week, but that also ended up not happening most of the time because I was too stressed and overwhelmed by the messages and email, and I admit I just stuck my head in the sand and ignored it.
I've realized I probably need to do a little bit every day. This is one of those "frogs" that I should do first thing in my day because otherwise I won't get it done at all. The problem is that social media and email stress me out so much that my writing efficiency goes down the toilet. And if I happen to get some snide comment from a Facebook troll, I am so sensitive to that kind of stuff that it will derail my emotional state for the rest of the day.
I have to figure out what to do about this. I have to be more disciplined and check my email every day after I finish my writing for the day. I can't be lazy or straightup avoid my email and social media just because I don't like doing it.
Maybe I can try a streak with my email just like with my writing. It's kind of pathetic, but I'm desperate to have more self-discipline, and if a public accounting is the only way to get me to do something I dislike, then so be it.
New writing routine:
I'm continuing the new routine I set up yesterday, although I think I'll adjust it a bit. I think I'll do the editing first so that I can refresh myself on the scene I just finished, and then get to writing for today.
While my minimum requirement for my writing streak is 15 minutes, I've actually been pushing myself to make it to 1500 words a day if possible, because then I can finish the book in about 60 days. If I take longer than 60 days, it's not a big deal, but it would be nice if I could publish this in 2 months, assuming my health holds.
***
Editing:
I finished self-editing a scene today! For me, this is a total win, since I hate self-editing so much.
***
Editing first versus writing first:
I realized when I started writing that my brain was already a bit tired, maybe from doing the marketing first today, but also I think from doing the editing first. I had thought that refreshing myself with the previous scene would be good for writing the next one, but maybe I need to do the writing when I’m freshest, especially since I’ve been suffering from some fatigue lately. I think I’d rather be tired while editing rather than while writing.
After I finish this second scene, I think I’ll try instead writing first and then editing after I’ve finished my word count for the day, and see how I feel.
Reading my blocking notes:
I completely forgot to read through my blocking notes before I started writing. I’m not sure why I spaced out like that, but I wrote 700 words from the wrong character’s point of view.
::Facepalm::
I think I managed to salvage only about 350 words. The rest had to be rewritten.
When doing my writing totals for today, I waffled over if I should include the time and words I wrote that I ended up needing to trash. But then I decided to include them all, since I’m not recording the total manuscript words here, just the work I actually did today.
Research:
Despite the time I had spent on blocking the scene I’m writing right now, I had forgotten to research the choreography for the sparring movements. I suppose I could have researched it later and just left a [sparring here] note, but there were two sequences like that, and the dialogue in between and afterward was dependent on the characters’ positions on the ground.
I’m also a bit paranoid about writing something physically impossible to execute and then needing to figure something out later. I’d rather work with what’s actually possible, and then write the dialogue and action around it.
Despite the time I had to take to do research, my writing speed was still about the same as yesterday. So maybe my writing speed was faster after I’d figured out the sparring sequence, making up for the time it took to research it. It did seem like the words were flowing better at that segment. Or maybe I just enjoy writing action sequences.
***
Breaks:
Once again, breaks are my downfall. I took a break to eat dinner and ended up feeling so tired that I decided to stop for the day, even though I haven’t gotten any blocking done. I’m a little disappointed in myself, but then again, when I look at my day, I didn’t waste a lot of time, and I got almost 6 hours of work done (combination of writing and the marketing I did earlier). I had maybe a few more house chores to do today, which might be why I’m tired. I ended up getting some reading done during dinner, and I updated my book catalog with some new books, and now I think I’ll go to bed a little early. I hope I can get more done tomorrow.
***
Writing: Time spent: 2 hours, 41 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 2658 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 989 words/hour
Writing streak: 3 days
Editing: Time spent: 48 minutes
Blocking: time spent: 0
Email/Social Media streak: 1 days
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 2 hours, 23 minutes
My takeaway for today: Try doing an email/social media streak to develop the self-discipline to do it.
My second takeaway for today: Next time, try doing the writing first before the editing, to see if it’s better for me to write when I’m fresher.
My third takeaway for today: Remember to read your blocking notes before you start writing, dummy!
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