RECKONING—I broke the chapter into ten units and got through nine of them.
ANALYSIS–While I might have been able to rush through that final section, the end of a pivotal chapter so close to the end of a novel deserves more than a rushed job. To be fair to myself, there was no window today when I could have done even a rush job because once my early pre-puppy hours are spent, there's no guarantee I'll get more. Which is just to say that puppy training has been... intense.
PLAN–Given that I make plans and Shiloh laughs, I'm going to be more strategic. I will finish chapter 27, this week I will for real launch my Wonderbook series, and I'll read my notes for the last two chapters and epilogue. I'm also getting Shiloh temperament tested at a doggy day care so I can maybe start sending her out to play a day or two a week and have a day or two where I can concentrate.
What fabulous progress given the Shiloh factor. Reading about your early pre-puppy hours made me smile. Wasn't early morning writing your goal earlier? Shiloh got you there. :)
Yes! Early morning was the goal! But I went from five hours a day to two and I have to tell you it feels like five minutes. I'm settling in and it's time to wake the bladder with fur for the day. LOL
I'm seriously considering leaning into the early morning and writing from 4 a.m. to 8 until Shiloh gets out of the you-need-to-follow-me-around-every-second phase Part of me worries this will turn me into an even bigger hermit part of me is whispering that the pandemic did that already. I'll wait to make the switch until next week because I don't want to fall asleep for Mike's birthday dinner this weekend.
I did not set goals last week. On my return trip from Paris on Sunday July 2 I came down with a nasty case of food poisoning. Lost last week to it, though I did 2 1/2 hours of fun research on my next newsletter during my few hours of comfort last Thursday morning. Still recovering. BRAT diet for the win.
In uplifting news from last week, I blew an eyelash and wished for an easy newsletter topic. Thursday morning a reporter reached out to me for comment on a marketing situation. Though the article was quickly nixed, the subject is fun and easy. I feel the universe answered.
Reckoning: Between last Thursday morning and reading over the weekend, I've done 4 hours of research on this newsletter. Yesterday I hit the point where I could see it all come together.
Analysis: In the past I've massively over-researched and thus overcomplicated newsletters, only to wrestle them into fighting weight later. I know I am ready to write, so my challenge is NO MORE RESEARCH. Just write.
Plan: Self-care to health. Write to done. Get the newsletter out on time Friday.
I love the idea of comedic essay gold. Writing that essay could also help me process. This morning I finally started recounting the whole trip experience in morning pages and I started to feel better. Though I've only gotten to when we finally flew out, I know continuing to record will be healing. May seek your help getting started with the essay if that's ok.
Of course! Glad you started to feel better! I'm sorry your trip was a one-thing-after-the-other affair. I feel like travel to Paris is always rife with these kinds of stories. The day before I went to Paris for a short trip to see the Van Gogh exhibit in Decemeber 2019 there was a photo of rioting in Paris in the New York Times. I was on an international call to my hotel to try and gauge how bad things really were and the answer was, this woman was still working. The public transportation was shut down, though, so I had to walk everywhere, which was tiring but lovely as I saw more of the city that way. My first day I walked almost fifteen miles because I wanted to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.
CATHY'S WEEKLY R.A.P. for July 9, 2023
RECKONING—I broke the chapter into ten units and got through nine of them.
ANALYSIS–While I might have been able to rush through that final section, the end of a pivotal chapter so close to the end of a novel deserves more than a rushed job. To be fair to myself, there was no window today when I could have done even a rush job because once my early pre-puppy hours are spent, there's no guarantee I'll get more. Which is just to say that puppy training has been... intense.
PLAN–Given that I make plans and Shiloh laughs, I'm going to be more strategic. I will finish chapter 27, this week I will for real launch my Wonderbook series, and I'll read my notes for the last two chapters and epilogue. I'm also getting Shiloh temperament tested at a doggy day care so I can maybe start sending her out to play a day or two a week and have a day or two where I can concentrate.
What fabulous progress given the Shiloh factor. Reading about your early pre-puppy hours made me smile. Wasn't early morning writing your goal earlier? Shiloh got you there. :)
Yes! Early morning was the goal! But I went from five hours a day to two and I have to tell you it feels like five minutes. I'm settling in and it's time to wake the bladder with fur for the day. LOL
I'm seriously considering leaning into the early morning and writing from 4 a.m. to 8 until Shiloh gets out of the you-need-to-follow-me-around-every-second phase Part of me worries this will turn me into an even bigger hermit part of me is whispering that the pandemic did that already. I'll wait to make the switch until next week because I don't want to fall asleep for Mike's birthday dinner this weekend.
I did not set goals last week. On my return trip from Paris on Sunday July 2 I came down with a nasty case of food poisoning. Lost last week to it, though I did 2 1/2 hours of fun research on my next newsletter during my few hours of comfort last Thursday morning. Still recovering. BRAT diet for the win.
In uplifting news from last week, I blew an eyelash and wished for an easy newsletter topic. Thursday morning a reporter reached out to me for comment on a marketing situation. Though the article was quickly nixed, the subject is fun and easy. I feel the universe answered.
Reckoning: Between last Thursday morning and reading over the weekend, I've done 4 hours of research on this newsletter. Yesterday I hit the point where I could see it all come together.
Analysis: In the past I've massively over-researched and thus overcomplicated newsletters, only to wrestle them into fighting weight later. I know I am ready to write, so my challenge is NO MORE RESEARCH. Just write.
Plan: Self-care to health. Write to done. Get the newsletter out on time Friday.
Look, this may be too soon but the bookends of your vacation are the stuff of comedic essay gold...
That said, sorry the end of you vacation was so...explosive.
You're definitely rocking the re-entry!
I love the idea of comedic essay gold. Writing that essay could also help me process. This morning I finally started recounting the whole trip experience in morning pages and I started to feel better. Though I've only gotten to when we finally flew out, I know continuing to record will be healing. May seek your help getting started with the essay if that's ok.
Of course! Glad you started to feel better! I'm sorry your trip was a one-thing-after-the-other affair. I feel like travel to Paris is always rife with these kinds of stories. The day before I went to Paris for a short trip to see the Van Gogh exhibit in Decemeber 2019 there was a photo of rioting in Paris in the New York Times. I was on an international call to my hotel to try and gauge how bad things really were and the answer was, this woman was still working. The public transportation was shut down, though, so I had to walk everywhere, which was tiring but lovely as I saw more of the city that way. My first day I walked almost fifteen miles because I wanted to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.