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Day 1 of accountability
Jan. 19th, 2020 09:17 amIn my quest to keep myself accountable and in the wake of self-help gurus Joanna Penn (Productivity for Authors) and Charlie Gilkey (Start Finishing), I'm going to wrangle this DW into an accountability journal. My situation: Sabbatical. What I said I'd do during my sabbatical: Submit a book manuscript to a publisher; apply for two grants; do research travel; gather illustrations for book (reproductions; copyright; permissions). When sabbatical ends: 25 May.
By 4 Feb, I want to have written the book proposal and a sample chapter. Days to go till 4 Feb: 15. Sessions I have to work on this: 29.
Can i work like this? I am such a pantser. Can I force myself into a plotter's pants? Will I procrastinate by writing DW posts? Can I do this? Do I even think in 'sessions'?
But also: excite. I get to go to t'reference library! I get paid for not going to work! I will have no teaching till September. I will have no marking. I can respond 'decline' to meeting invites. I can be distracted endlessly and use time for socialising.
But then also, what I learned from past sabbaticals: don't think I can work a full day. Not going to happen. I need to recharge. I need to factor in procrastination and seeing people and eating and reading novels and doing my bullet journal and power walking and yoga and Bollywood dancing and pilates and sitting in the garden (once the sun returns).
I wrote 100,811 words for nano in November so I know I can do it because I did it!
Plan for today!! 2 writing sessions @ 2ish hours each. (And yes, that's the oldfangled way of using the apenstaartje :-)). Where: (The gurus say it's important to pick a spot where you only do your creative work with no distractions and that gets associated with that creative work alone. Hence for me: not home.) Caffé Nero, King's Parade. I've done lots and lots of writing there, much finishing of conference papers, much fic, much not-finishing of books. Let's see what vibe prevails there today.
In terms of conducivity overall, my venues are: Desk at home (worst). Library (can be good but can also be distraction into research or sleep-inducing). Caffé Nero King's Parade (see above). Caffé Nero Station (not as tested as the other one as it's relatively new to town but I up-switched nano there last November and started the ship that was to launch 100k words - hint: it's Orli/Karl). Waterstone's Café (nano write-in on Mondays during nano but has distraction danger in the form of books). YHA Café (and only because this is the nano write-in venue Tues and Sat during Nov and on Saturdays throughout the year; it has big-time writing vibes).
Also, the gurus advise identifying what is the best creativity time of day for you. I find this really hard. Nanowrimo has taught me that I can write anywhere, anytime (although I'm less good at 1 am) and especially well with other people writing around me. Life has taught me that I can write anytime, anywhere if I have a deadline tomorrow. Before children, my best time of day was 5-7 pm (17:00-19:00). Now that children have left home, my best time of day for dawdling: 7-11:30 am.
Productivity guru Joanna Penn gives herself stickers for every 2000 words written or target achieved. I like this! I will now spend 20 minutes pondering whether I should make special wall calendar for stickers or start a new lay-out in bullet journal for stickers OR WHAT WITH THE STICKERS.
Actual mood today: Daunted (not on the mood menu).
ETA: End of Day. Success! I won today. Did all the things. Sat in Caffé Nero KP. Did chapter outline. Chose sample chapter. Divided it into sub-sections. Put each sub-section into a separate Scrivener document. Revised two sub-sections. Turned their little yellow flags to green. Processed 2,800 words. Yay yay yay.
Also downloaded Harry/Draco fic.
By 4 Feb, I want to have written the book proposal and a sample chapter. Days to go till 4 Feb: 15. Sessions I have to work on this: 29.
Can i work like this? I am such a pantser. Can I force myself into a plotter's pants? Will I procrastinate by writing DW posts? Can I do this? Do I even think in 'sessions'?
But also: excite. I get to go to t'reference library! I get paid for not going to work! I will have no teaching till September. I will have no marking. I can respond 'decline' to meeting invites. I can be distracted endlessly and use time for socialising.
But then also, what I learned from past sabbaticals: don't think I can work a full day. Not going to happen. I need to recharge. I need to factor in procrastination and seeing people and eating and reading novels and doing my bullet journal and power walking and yoga and Bollywood dancing and pilates and sitting in the garden (once the sun returns).
I wrote 100,811 words for nano in November so I know I can do it because I did it!
Plan for today!! 2 writing sessions @ 2ish hours each. (And yes, that's the oldfangled way of using the apenstaartje :-)). Where: (The gurus say it's important to pick a spot where you only do your creative work with no distractions and that gets associated with that creative work alone. Hence for me: not home.) Caffé Nero, King's Parade. I've done lots and lots of writing there, much finishing of conference papers, much fic, much not-finishing of books. Let's see what vibe prevails there today.
In terms of conducivity overall, my venues are: Desk at home (worst). Library (can be good but can also be distraction into research or sleep-inducing). Caffé Nero King's Parade (see above). Caffé Nero Station (not as tested as the other one as it's relatively new to town but I up-switched nano there last November and started the ship that was to launch 100k words - hint: it's Orli/Karl). Waterstone's Café (nano write-in on Mondays during nano but has distraction danger in the form of books). YHA Café (and only because this is the nano write-in venue Tues and Sat during Nov and on Saturdays throughout the year; it has big-time writing vibes).
Also, the gurus advise identifying what is the best creativity time of day for you. I find this really hard. Nanowrimo has taught me that I can write anywhere, anytime (although I'm less good at 1 am) and especially well with other people writing around me. Life has taught me that I can write anytime, anywhere if I have a deadline tomorrow. Before children, my best time of day was 5-7 pm (17:00-19:00). Now that children have left home, my best time of day for dawdling: 7-11:30 am.
Productivity guru Joanna Penn gives herself stickers for every 2000 words written or target achieved. I like this! I will now spend 20 minutes pondering whether I should make special wall calendar for stickers or start a new lay-out in bullet journal for stickers OR WHAT WITH THE STICKERS.
Actual mood today: Daunted (not on the mood menu).
ETA: End of Day. Success! I won today. Did all the things. Sat in Caffé Nero KP. Did chapter outline. Chose sample chapter. Divided it into sub-sections. Put each sub-section into a separate Scrivener document. Revised two sub-sections. Turned their little yellow flags to green. Processed 2,800 words. Yay yay yay.
Also downloaded Harry/Draco fic.
