I love that you were partially successful even while doing high-energy travel. That's a feat! I love making space to write while traveling, but I have also found it delicious to formally take a break from the writing while I'm traveling. The last two years I took the last two weeks of the year off and it's been such a change in my mood during the season. I will write some, but it's all icing. When I'm on vacation, I just give myself a day and time I'll return to the writing and I almost always come back refreshed.
RECKONING: Rough draft of chapter 26—check! Return to morning schedule and swimming reward—not so check!
ANALYSIS: I’m excited I finished a rough draft of chapter 26—go me!—but if I’m being honest, setting a content goal gave me permission to slack off a bit. I did about half of my normal writing time because I was on pace to finish the content goal. This is a good reminder why I give myself time goals paired with content goals in priority order. Also, I’m like a cat in a bath with the morning writing, Perhaps the fur beast we may be adopting this week will change that? I mean she will, but when my mornings get late it’s generally because I’m trying to do too many things and my evenings are creaking long either because I’m trying to work or trying to give myself some down time and breathing space. I need to journal about my true priorities this week.
PLAN: I will return to my goal of writing x hours working on the second draft of chapter 26 (aka the type and tweak draft) and moving on to chapter 27 if/when I finish that. Should we actually adopt a fur beast, I will obviously need to put that first for the getting to know you period, but as of right now, we are fur beast less, so the writing is the priority.
RECKONING: I did finish the chapter I planned to finish, after one whole day of achieving nothing more than a fairly boring couple of paragraphs. The following day proved fruitful.
ANALYSIS: I started the week realizing I really needed a break, having worked through the weekend. I'm glad I could take a few hours Monday to Not Start, or else the wheels would have fallen off.
PLAN: The goal is to finish my novel revision by Friday, with a flex goat of next Monday.
RECKONING: I was traveling most of last week, so I hadn't really set a firm plan. HOWEVER, I'm happy to say that once I was back, I did manage to "touch" my novel every day, spending anywhere from 25 mins to 2 hours with it.
ANALYSIS: 1.) Using a pomodoro timer has been a HUGE boon for me. It gets me out of that "I can only write if I have an hour or more" mindset, and also takes the feeling of "ugh, I have to write," away. I mean, all I have to do is write for 25 minutes! (And then, almost always, I re-up for more). It's crazy how effective I'm finding it. 2.) I have finally, after months and months of dicking around / false starts / etc., found what I think is the right narrative voice and ethos for this book, and it's making all the difference in the world. I still have NO idea where it's going in many ways, but at least now I feel like I have my writing shoes on (the right ones for this novel's terrain) and can really get rolling.
PLAN: I will continue to do at least one pomodoro a day, but ideally 2-3. If I can manage to do that every day this week, I'm going to reward myself with a big, indulgent couple of hours of reading on Saturday or Sunday, maybe over an almond croissant and latte at Caffe Nero.
Yay to finding the narrative voice. It's such an intuitive thing, but once you have the voice, it helps make a lot of the choices re: where the story is headed. I once got through a complete stone wall in my plotting by writing a letter of complaint to me in the voice of my main character who had a lot of opinions about why I was stuck and who should actually tell her story. So voice is very powerful!
Also, I'm a huge fan of the timer as carrot. In motivational emergencies, I've been known to start my tracking timer and then set an alarm timer for a short amount of time--depending on how cat-appraoching-a-bath I'm feeling, I might do 15, 10, or even 5 minutes--and then keep hitting restart when the timer beeps at me.
RECKONING: Client blog post--check! Newsletter finish--not so check! Start next newsletter--oh, please.
ANALYSIS: Monday and Tuesday I funneled all my writing energy into my client project and did not touch my newsletter at all. It was the right thing to do - the client liked the outcome and had few changes. The newsletter topic is thorny. I spend 296 minutes on it between Thursday and Friday - a hair shy of 5 hours. I also got feedback from my early reader/editor on a partial draft which helped my direction. Overall I spent over 7 1/2 hours on writing activities last week and am happy with how I spent my time.
PLAN: Finish this newsletter and get it out this week. Wrapping up other commitments--submitting listing for my book to 2 library marketing email blasts and doing 2 podcast interviews - before vacation. for 2 weeks, but the newsletter is my highest priority. My reward? Did I mention vacation for 2 weeks?
It sounds like you're not just clicking along on the main project but confidently making choices about where to spend your time as you inch toward the most beautiful reward of the upcoming vacation. Go, Evelyn!
RECKONING: A fairly successful week. Did one of the exercises from 3 A.M. Epiphany and four days of micro memoirs.
ANALYSIS: I'm finding the exercises from the 3 A.M. book really get me thinking in a new direction. All the exercises I've done have found their way into my novel (or will when I reach the chapter where they belong). I need to remind myself that breaking my writing routines with new ways to write is fruitful for me. My micro memoirs weren't always great, but I got them on the page and that's what counts. I'll have them there to revise at some point.
PLAN: I'm cutting myself some slack this week, as it's an incredibly busy week (and a half) for me. I'll choose the next exercise I'll do, but give myself permission to not start it until next week. I can handle 10 minutes of micro memoir for five days.
Now I'm super intrigued by this 3 A.M. book! I also love the "epiphany" you had about how fruitful it is for you to mix up your writing routine. Good luck with the busy week (and a half) ahead!
I love that you were partially successful even while doing high-energy travel. That's a feat! I love making space to write while traveling, but I have also found it delicious to formally take a break from the writing while I'm traveling. The last two years I took the last two weeks of the year off and it's been such a change in my mood during the season. I will write some, but it's all icing. When I'm on vacation, I just give myself a day and time I'll return to the writing and I almost always come back refreshed.
CATHY’S WEEKLY RAP FOR JUNE 11, 2023
RECKONING: Rough draft of chapter 26—check! Return to morning schedule and swimming reward—not so check!
ANALYSIS: I’m excited I finished a rough draft of chapter 26—go me!—but if I’m being honest, setting a content goal gave me permission to slack off a bit. I did about half of my normal writing time because I was on pace to finish the content goal. This is a good reminder why I give myself time goals paired with content goals in priority order. Also, I’m like a cat in a bath with the morning writing, Perhaps the fur beast we may be adopting this week will change that? I mean she will, but when my mornings get late it’s generally because I’m trying to do too many things and my evenings are creaking long either because I’m trying to work or trying to give myself some down time and breathing space. I need to journal about my true priorities this week.
PLAN: I will return to my goal of writing x hours working on the second draft of chapter 26 (aka the type and tweak draft) and moving on to chapter 27 if/when I finish that. Should we actually adopt a fur beast, I will obviously need to put that first for the getting to know you period, but as of right now, we are fur beast less, so the writing is the priority.
RECKONING: I did finish the chapter I planned to finish, after one whole day of achieving nothing more than a fairly boring couple of paragraphs. The following day proved fruitful.
ANALYSIS: I started the week realizing I really needed a break, having worked through the weekend. I'm glad I could take a few hours Monday to Not Start, or else the wheels would have fallen off.
PLAN: The goal is to finish my novel revision by Friday, with a flex goat of next Monday.
It's important to rest when we need to rest precisely to avoid the wheels falling off!
Wishing you big revision energy!
RECKONING: I was traveling most of last week, so I hadn't really set a firm plan. HOWEVER, I'm happy to say that once I was back, I did manage to "touch" my novel every day, spending anywhere from 25 mins to 2 hours with it.
ANALYSIS: 1.) Using a pomodoro timer has been a HUGE boon for me. It gets me out of that "I can only write if I have an hour or more" mindset, and also takes the feeling of "ugh, I have to write," away. I mean, all I have to do is write for 25 minutes! (And then, almost always, I re-up for more). It's crazy how effective I'm finding it. 2.) I have finally, after months and months of dicking around / false starts / etc., found what I think is the right narrative voice and ethos for this book, and it's making all the difference in the world. I still have NO idea where it's going in many ways, but at least now I feel like I have my writing shoes on (the right ones for this novel's terrain) and can really get rolling.
PLAN: I will continue to do at least one pomodoro a day, but ideally 2-3. If I can manage to do that every day this week, I'm going to reward myself with a big, indulgent couple of hours of reading on Saturday or Sunday, maybe over an almond croissant and latte at Caffe Nero.
Yay to finding the narrative voice. It's such an intuitive thing, but once you have the voice, it helps make a lot of the choices re: where the story is headed. I once got through a complete stone wall in my plotting by writing a letter of complaint to me in the voice of my main character who had a lot of opinions about why I was stuck and who should actually tell her story. So voice is very powerful!
Also, I'm a huge fan of the timer as carrot. In motivational emergencies, I've been known to start my tracking timer and then set an alarm timer for a short amount of time--depending on how cat-appraoching-a-bath I'm feeling, I might do 15, 10, or even 5 minutes--and then keep hitting restart when the timer beeps at me.
RECKONING: Client blog post--check! Newsletter finish--not so check! Start next newsletter--oh, please.
ANALYSIS: Monday and Tuesday I funneled all my writing energy into my client project and did not touch my newsletter at all. It was the right thing to do - the client liked the outcome and had few changes. The newsletter topic is thorny. I spend 296 minutes on it between Thursday and Friday - a hair shy of 5 hours. I also got feedback from my early reader/editor on a partial draft which helped my direction. Overall I spent over 7 1/2 hours on writing activities last week and am happy with how I spent my time.
PLAN: Finish this newsletter and get it out this week. Wrapping up other commitments--submitting listing for my book to 2 library marketing email blasts and doing 2 podcast interviews - before vacation. for 2 weeks, but the newsletter is my highest priority. My reward? Did I mention vacation for 2 weeks?
Your "oh please" made me chuckle.
It sounds like you're not just clicking along on the main project but confidently making choices about where to spend your time as you inch toward the most beautiful reward of the upcoming vacation. Go, Evelyn!
RECKONING: A fairly successful week. Did one of the exercises from 3 A.M. Epiphany and four days of micro memoirs.
ANALYSIS: I'm finding the exercises from the 3 A.M. book really get me thinking in a new direction. All the exercises I've done have found their way into my novel (or will when I reach the chapter where they belong). I need to remind myself that breaking my writing routines with new ways to write is fruitful for me. My micro memoirs weren't always great, but I got them on the page and that's what counts. I'll have them there to revise at some point.
PLAN: I'm cutting myself some slack this week, as it's an incredibly busy week (and a half) for me. I'll choose the next exercise I'll do, but give myself permission to not start it until next week. I can handle 10 minutes of micro memoir for five days.
Now I'm super intrigued by this 3 A.M. book! I also love the "epiphany" you had about how fruitful it is for you to mix up your writing routine. Good luck with the busy week (and a half) ahead!