Day 892 - Self-discipline issues

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I have such AWFUL self-discipline sometimes. I stayed up too late last night watching Netflix. In a sense it was good since I heard some rather good dialogue in the show I was watching, but later episodes had worse writing, so the dialogue was not as good and the character development was incredibly inconsistent. And I really shouldn’t have spent so long watching Netflix because ultimately it will cut into my writing time for today.

To top things off, I have a small IBS flareup today, so I’m pushing myself to work past a bit of pain. However, I’m still going to try to get as much work done as I can despite my self-destructive tendencies.

I really need to develop more self-discipline, especially because I’ve set a personal goal of finishing this book by the 17th. I’m not sure if I can do that, but I’m really going to try.

I was listening to a podcast this morning while I was doing the house chores that I need to do on Thursdays, and it got me fired up about being disciplined with my writing time. After all, I was disciplined in my work time when I was working full-time in biology research, so I should be able to treat my writing hours the same way.

Another thing I liked from the podcast is that the writer being interviewed mentioned that she doesn’t have daily word count goals, but instead she has scene goals. She writes X number of scenes each day and finishes the scenes. She doesn’t stop in the middle of the scene. She doesn’t like word count goals because then she’d just aim for the word count and stop, whereas if she has a goal of finishing the scene, then she’ll work until the scene is finished, no matter how many words that is. I like that because I also really like being able to finish the scene at the end of the day. Yesterday, I worked until the scene was completed, pushing myself to work even though I was slowing down at the end.

I’ll do the same thing today and strive to finish the scene. If it ends up being a short scene, I’ll probably have to start the next one and end in the middle, but I’ll see how things go.

***

I didn’t get as much done today as I wanted, but I managed to finish a scene. It was only a short scene, about 2400 words, and I wrote for a little over 2 hours. I’m rather pleased with it—it ended up having the color and atmosphere I was aiming for.

However, I’m also still feeling a bit sick. I think I might be able to go to bed early tonight, and then hopefully get a fresh start tomorrow morning.

Writing streak: 371 days

My takeaway for today: Be more self-disciplined with your bedtime, stupid!

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