First Week Analysis

I’m calling my week Monday to Sunday, which I think will work out pretty well.

• Day 1- 5,327
• Day 2- 8,402
• Day 3- 10,711
• Day 4- 2,438
• Day 5- 13,000
• Day 6- 2,500
• Day 7- 2,300

• Weekly Total: 44,678 words.

That weekly word count looks pretty impressive, and that’s despite all those slacker days. It really is interesting to see my word count laid out like this. Looks like I have a few really productive days, and then a slump. Hmm.

Of course, even those really productive days are only five hours of work. I really want to push myself until I’m working eight hours a day for at least part of the week. That would mean a word count of 16,000 a day.

The problem is, I still have focus issues. Like right now. It’s Monday morning and I’ve written, like, a couple hundred words of contract work? Yeah, I should probably work on that focus thing. In a minute.

Easter!

Didn't get much work done today for obvious reasons. Wrote and published my daily short story in the morning (7 day streak!) then spent the day with the family. Got home and threw together a box set and put it up.

I have a LOT of work to get done this next week. Eh, I'll be okay. I mean, probably. Right?

Word count: 2,300

Well

Yeah, okay, I got distracted. I did manage to paint an Easter bunny and do another couch to 5k workout, but I did very little contract work. I got up my self pub short because I am on a six day streak and I will not lose it!

Wow, blanked out for a second there. I'm tired. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, I also made an ice cream cake for tomorrow. I love ice cream cakes. They're super easy to make. You toss together a graham cracker crust with crushed graham crackers and butter, then mix ice cream and whipped cream for the filling. Well, there are steps and everything involved, but it's pretty simple. Look it up!

Today was a classic example of why I need to start working in the morning or else I'll be useless all day. I sat down at my computer after breakfast, but then my sister wandered in looking for something to do and since she's not over very often I suggested painting. So I shut down my writing computer and didn't get back to it until around, I don't know, ten? I then proceeded to watch T.V. shows instead of writing.

I think it's an inertia thing. Once I get started writing it's easier to continue, and the easiest time to get started is in the morning when I'm beginning my day. Honestly, I barely scraped out that short for publishing tonight, and only because I'm so desperate not to lose that streak. I said I would put out one a day for a hundred days, dammit!

I'm really getting blurry here. I think I need to go to sleep. Will add up and contemplate weekly numbers tomorrow. Assuming I'm not sugar high from Easter.

Word count: 2,500

A Pattern is Noted

I've been searching for productivity patterns as I try to sort out why I spend all day doing five hours worth of work. Today I found an awesome pomodoro site that tracks how many poms you do. (For anyone who doesn't know, these are 25 minute blocks of productivity followed by five minute breaks.) I once again hit the end of the day having done about 5 hours of work despite working all day, so I checked my log.

Well.

Turns out I take at least a one hour break between every hour of work. Sometimes more. So I turn five hours into, like thirteen hours. Stupid.

Obviously I need to work on this. I'm going to start making more of an effort to focus on getting the work done first thing in one focused batch of productivity. I really want to hit 8-10 hours of work a day and I'm never going to do that at my current messy rate.

So. Progress.

Words today: 13,000

(Yes, I type over 2k an hour so that's about 6 hours work for me. See the problem?)

Day Off

Took the day off to read a space opera. Well, mostly. Paused in my slacking to write and publish a short and so keep up with my one a day challenge. Also set up a promo and booked a couple ads. Never know, something might come of it.

This is why I wanted to keep this word count to check my averages. My days vary wildly on productivity levels. I want to hit a consistent work habit, but instead I bop between crazy energy all the things, and fall down on face watch tv. I've never actually checked to see what that averages out to before.

I've got two deadlines to hit tomorrow and I want stuff done before Easter, so I'll see how it goes.

Oh, and on the productive side I did complete the second work out on my couch to 5k. Soon I will be able to run longer than 15 seconds!

I feel like this blog is really boring. Will have to think of more exciting things to say.

word count: 2,438

The First

Got a good amount of work done. Wrote a contract project in the morning and got that turned in and paid for (yay!) then wrote a new self pub short and published, then worked on my nano story. I threw out my initial legal thriller and switched to an adventure fantasy. Having a lot of fun with it.

I have to say, I was disappointed by the lack of April Fool's Day shenanigans. Oh, sure, there were a couple things like Pet Box, but not many companies got into the spirit. Maybe they're saving up for next year? One can only hope...

word count: 10,711

And then there was nano

Camp nanowrimo is about to start! I'm pretty crazy excited about it.  I'm staying up past midnight for it, which means deciding whether I want to set these blogs where a day ends at midnight or when I go to sleep. I decided to set the end of a day at midnight, so my first camp words will count towards tomorrow.

Pretty good day. Got a story section sent to a client, and wrote and self published a new short. Took a long walk with my dog in the sunshine and sat on the porch to bask in the warmth for a while. Plus, I ran two miles on the elliptical tonight, so win!

I've been thinking a lot today about what it's like to be living a life my past self idealized. When I thought about where I wanted to be a year ago, this was pretty much it. Writing full time and learning to run with couch to 5k.

I'm not gonna lie, my life is pretty awesome, but it's still life. It's not as glowy as I imagined in my daydreams. I'm still striving for more. I mean, if I sat down and said yup, this is it! Everything I want is achieved! Well, that would be pretty boring, wouldn't it?

I feel like my life hasn't changed all that much. I'm still myself, weirdly enough. I still suffer from the same foibles. I still screw up and write plenty of terribleness. I still get paranoid and obsess about stupid shit. In my daydreams I always imagined me-as-evolved-life-form living this life. It's weird to just be living it as myself.

I wonder what this means for my rich and famous daydream. Will I not ascend to godhood if I make money under my own name and run a marathon? Will need further contemplation.

Word count: 8,402