Week 4 of my book was more on point than week 3. I gave myself week 4 as my last 7 days of unorganized chaos before getting into a definite writing rhythm and I totally needed every bit of this time frame to really create some personalized structure for what I need to accomplish through this whole writing process. What I’m learning is that it’s more important to focus on getting the work done than on how the work gets done. Now for most people, that might be a little scary, because it gives an impression of “flying by the seat of your pants” instead of hunkering down and putting some routine to what you’re doing. Believe me, I’m going to commit to my schedule of 2 hours a day of writing for three days out of the week and 30 minutes of writing or working on logistics for the book on the other 3 days out of the week. Yes, I know 3 days + 3 days only adds up to 6 out of 7 days of the week. Reason being: I will be excluding any type of writing work on Saturdays. That part I do know for sure and I’ll be a stickler about holding fast to that rule. But, I will build in some flexibility for the days that are 2-hour days and the days that are 30-minute days as far as the day of the week that they fall on.
For me, creating a weekly structure that consists of an adjustable framework (like Lego bricks that can be pieced in multiple ways) that accommodates the daily and sometimes unpredictable occurrences in life is much more productive and mentally healthy than stressing over the fact that I didn’t write for my 2-hour minimum on Monday. This past week taught me that much. The following is the mantra I’m going to recite to myself the next time I get stressed about falling out of line with a schedule that is tentative at best: STOP CONTROLLING THE NARRATIVE. Let life happen first and the book will follow. In other words, I must incorporate the book into my life, not work in my life around my book. I hope that makes sense. Here are a couple of things I learned about myself in week 4:
- I’m not as old school as I thought when it comes to getting content down on paper or, in this case, typed up on the computer. Last week, I mentioned that I do my best work when I compose with pen to paper, but I actually found myself creating more as I was typing on the computer instead of writing things down first. So, I guess I was a little premature in trying to establish some type of writing preference for how I do my best work. Hmmm? Guess this is what real life for a newbie writer can sometimes look like. I’m not talking about the reality tv version of life, where you can opt to airbrush some of the messy and ugly away and give the appearance of having things more together than you actually do in real life. Anyway, this here writer is trying to figure out her best course of action to take in GETTING WRITING DONE and it’s going to take weekly and daily re-evaluation of the options. For my purposes, that works just fine and isn’t scary to me at all. It’s slightly better than “flying by the seat of my pants”. Not quite as messy as that scenario.
- I also learned that, while I can be inspired to write at any point in the day, I truly have my best writing momentum early in the mornings. I mean early as in before getting children up and ready for school. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve become a morning person (well, maybe just for writing purposes). I find myself more engaged, less distracted (because everyone except for Hubby is still asleep), having more clarity of ideas, and able to free flow for the book better. Writing for the book works best when I have an uninterrupted block of time to create. I need that morning time to work on the book. On the flip side, the content for this blog and for YouTube can be more of my afternoon and evening writing devotion time, because I tend to put my thoughts together for those two platforms in fragmented time frames… here a little and there a little.
- Wow! I almost forgot to tell you that I got my introduction, or preface, completed (well, as completed as a rough draft can be). This news should have been first on my list to report to you. Sorry about that. Anyway, oh happy day… progress!
As you can see, I’m continuing to grow each week and really come to terms with how I best function as a content creative. I just love calling myself that. It’s such a cool title to wear and I’m truly privileged to be able to officially don it with humble pride. Anyway, I already know what I’m going to work on in week 5. ORGANIZATION! My work area is a hot mess and I can’t keep working in a disheveled working environment like this. It’s a little bothersome. I better get on it!
degreesofmaternity.com 