On the bright side, it is Friday and I am posting, which makes the goal an official success. On the down side, the ipad that contained pictures for what was supposed to be today's post (there was progress on the master bedroom today!) drove off with P, who is off for a guys' night. He won't be back until after midnight, which would make it a) no longer Friday and b) after my bedtime. So you just get a sucky goals update again.
Everything is going well. The cold showers are surprisingly bearable; this is the one that surprises me every morning. They're not something I eagerly look forward to, but they aren't awful either. For the first time ever, I believe that it is possible to learn to enjoy them. I wonder if I'll get there any time soon...
See you next week! (With pictures, hopefully.)
Friday, November 15, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Friday Update. No, Really!
I forgot. I could make lots of excuses; a sick child, a husband working on the weekend, running a fundraiser for the choir, and on, and on, and on. But the fact is that I forgot. Not that I had promised myself to post on a Friday, mind you, but that it was Friday. For two days. Sometimes I feel like I have so many things going on that my brain stops functioning.
So, the goals.
1. No new agent queries submitted, but preparations are well underway for Monday's submission.
2. Writing is going well. I have maintained an average pace of 2,000 words per day (I built up a little extra on good writing days, knowing there would be a few when I struggled), which puts me ahead of the NaNoWriMo pace by two days at this point. Most importantly, regardless of struggles, I have written every day.
3. We've covered the blog thing above.
4. The cold showers are going surprisingly well. The first shock is still intense, but has gone from swearing to tensing up for a minute. Best of all, once I can relax, the cold water is actually refreshing and not at all unpleasant. I have even been able to wash my hair and take my time in the cold water the past few days.
For the most part, a good week. On to week two!
So, the goals.
1. No new agent queries submitted, but preparations are well underway for Monday's submission.
2. Writing is going well. I have maintained an average pace of 2,000 words per day (I built up a little extra on good writing days, knowing there would be a few when I struggled), which puts me ahead of the NaNoWriMo pace by two days at this point. Most importantly, regardless of struggles, I have written every day.
3. We've covered the blog thing above.
4. The cold showers are going surprisingly well. The first shock is still intense, but has gone from swearing to tensing up for a minute. Best of all, once I can relax, the cold water is actually refreshing and not at all unpleasant. I have even been able to wash my hair and take my time in the cold water the past few days.
For the most part, a good week. On to week two!
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Developing habits
I remember reading somewhere that it takes 28 days for an action to turn into a habit. I'm not sure about that number; it seems oddly specific and very even and round at the same time. But the basic concept certainly makes sense. If you can do something every day for, say, a month, you should be able to make it a habit. So I thought I'd work on developing some habits this month. (I realize I'm a week in; there's a reason I need a gimmick to develop productive habits.)
Why this month, with all it's holidays and holiday preparations, school events, extra-curricular activities, and general craziness? Partly because if I put it off, it won't get done at all. And partly because November is National Novel Writing Month (check it out at NaNoWriMo.org.) The idea is that you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This comes out to 1,667 words per day, which for me is about two hours of writing at a nice, steady pace, with occasional short pauses for thought.
I've done NaNoWriMo every year since my daughter was one year old. Every year I've managed to write the 50,000 words, sometimes just hours before the deadline. The first four years of words, with extensive editing throughout non-writing months, became a novel that I think is publishable--as soon as I can find an agent to represent it. So the first habit I'm developing this month is agent queries. Most agents have a 6 to 12 week response time. My goal is to submit one query every week. That way, I'll have 8 or so queries out at a time, with responses coming in and queries going out at a good pace.
Habit number two is the writing itself. While I have always completed the 50,000 words, it was never at an even pace. Two years ago I fell 10,000 behind and caught it up in one marathon day of writing. This year, I mean to develop the habit of writing every day. The goal is to write between 1,667 and 2,000 words every day, but the important thing will be to sit down and get words down on every day, no matter what.
Third, I'd like to become more consistent with this blog. I think liking it to the above two habits should be manageable and productive. Blog writing can be a nice "cool-down" from working on the novel, a way to wrap up the writing session. On the other hand, maintaining a post every day seems daunting and unmanageable in terms of projects. Hence the combination with the query habit--I will aim for one post per week. I can submit a query on Mondays, and post on Fridays. Once the habit is established, I will work on more frequent posts, but for now the important thing is to start posting with some regularity.
Fourth is a habit I'm not looking forward to at all, but one which is important for my health. You see, for several months now I've been on the 4 Hour Body diet, as described by Tim Ferriss in his book. At first, it went swimmingly. I lost 30 lbs. in 3 months, and was feeling great. Then I stalled. Despite sticking to the diet and following all the rules (double checking and triple checking and quadruple checking...), I could not lose another ounce. And I was only halfway to my healthy weight! So I've decided it's time to plunge in (you'll see the pun there in a minute) to some of the optional parts of the weight loss program. I've added the supplements, and the specific exercises he recommends. Now it's time to add the cold showers for cold thermogenesis. Every morning I will wake up and take a cold shower. (Ugh, I'm shivering just writing that.)
So those are the habits I'm developing this month. Do you have a wish-list of habits? Why not pick a few and just jump in?
Why this month, with all it's holidays and holiday preparations, school events, extra-curricular activities, and general craziness? Partly because if I put it off, it won't get done at all. And partly because November is National Novel Writing Month (check it out at NaNoWriMo.org.) The idea is that you write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This comes out to 1,667 words per day, which for me is about two hours of writing at a nice, steady pace, with occasional short pauses for thought.
I've done NaNoWriMo every year since my daughter was one year old. Every year I've managed to write the 50,000 words, sometimes just hours before the deadline. The first four years of words, with extensive editing throughout non-writing months, became a novel that I think is publishable--as soon as I can find an agent to represent it. So the first habit I'm developing this month is agent queries. Most agents have a 6 to 12 week response time. My goal is to submit one query every week. That way, I'll have 8 or so queries out at a time, with responses coming in and queries going out at a good pace.
Habit number two is the writing itself. While I have always completed the 50,000 words, it was never at an even pace. Two years ago I fell 10,000 behind and caught it up in one marathon day of writing. This year, I mean to develop the habit of writing every day. The goal is to write between 1,667 and 2,000 words every day, but the important thing will be to sit down and get words down on every day, no matter what.
Third, I'd like to become more consistent with this blog. I think liking it to the above two habits should be manageable and productive. Blog writing can be a nice "cool-down" from working on the novel, a way to wrap up the writing session. On the other hand, maintaining a post every day seems daunting and unmanageable in terms of projects. Hence the combination with the query habit--I will aim for one post per week. I can submit a query on Mondays, and post on Fridays. Once the habit is established, I will work on more frequent posts, but for now the important thing is to start posting with some regularity.
Fourth is a habit I'm not looking forward to at all, but one which is important for my health. You see, for several months now I've been on the 4 Hour Body diet, as described by Tim Ferriss in his book. At first, it went swimmingly. I lost 30 lbs. in 3 months, and was feeling great. Then I stalled. Despite sticking to the diet and following all the rules (double checking and triple checking and quadruple checking...), I could not lose another ounce. And I was only halfway to my healthy weight! So I've decided it's time to plunge in (you'll see the pun there in a minute) to some of the optional parts of the weight loss program. I've added the supplements, and the specific exercises he recommends. Now it's time to add the cold showers for cold thermogenesis. Every morning I will wake up and take a cold shower. (Ugh, I'm shivering just writing that.)
So those are the habits I'm developing this month. Do you have a wish-list of habits? Why not pick a few and just jump in?
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