Day 639: Public accountability even for bad days

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Today might be a bare minimum day, because I woke up with a bad headache. I took medication but it’s doing a number on my stomach, which was already sensitive because of the IBS. I’ll do the bare minimum right now, just to make sure I don’t break my streak, and then see how I feel later.

I was going to just not post today, but I realized that I need the public accountability. Otherwise, I might just throw in the towel and not even try to work later today, when I might be feeling better.

***

It doesn’t always happen, but in this instance, after waiting a while, the headache medicine kicked in and I felt well enough to get work done. The IBS is still bothering me a bit, but that’s manageable with a bit of medication.

I’m glad I waited to see how I’d feel later. At the time, I had felt pretty horrible and couldn’t imagine feeling well enough to get any work done, plus my headache medicine doesn’t always work (especially if it’s a sinus headache).

But as I’m learning in how to work with a chronic illness, patience really is key. I haven’t recently had one of those days where I feel so terrible that I have to spend it in bed (knock on wood), but I hope I remember that if I just wait it out, I’ll eventually have a few moments where I feel better and I could get some writing done, even if it’s only on my phone while I’m in bed.

I didn’t spend as much time blocking as I’d have liked, partly because I was feeling a bit tired after battling the headache when I woke up, and so I got started on work later in the day. But I at least got some work done, and the scenes I did were pretty easy so I actually got a couple scenes blocked today.

I even felt well enough to get some brainstorming done on my Hawaii book after dinner. That’s a win for me!

Regency series:

Editing: Time spent: 9 minutes

Writing: Time spent: 52 minutes

Writing: Total number of words: 612 words

Writing streak: 118 days

Blocking: time spent: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Blocking streak: 112 days

Hawaii series:

Outlining: time spent: 48 minutes

My takeaway for today: Even on days I’m not feeling well, I should intend to post for the public accountability, which will help push me to try to do work later in the day when I might feel better.

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