What I wanted to achieve: Chapters 21–25
What I actually achieved: Chapters 22–24
January 25: I resist completing my goals
This was not my Monday. I struggled to get up. When I finally did sit down to write, I was an hour late. Then I spent an hour struggling to focus. After two wasted hours, I made a deal with myself. You don’t have to write the whole chapter today, but you have to at least get the chapter started. I got two pages written before it was time to turn to my day job. A weak start to the week.
Work completed: 1/4 of Chapter 22—2 pages; 601 words
January 26: Dragging myself through my duties
Because my work demands are high and I’m waking up early to write, I’m not getting as much downtime as I’d like. Monday night, I ended up practicing revenge procrastination by spending hours on my puzzle. Went to bed late and woke Tuesday a.m. exhausted. Regardless, after Monday’s poor showing, I refused to let procrastination get a footing. Full of struggle and grit, I got to writing.
Work completed: Chapter 22—4 and 1/4 pages; 1,364 words
January 27: I don’t know which way to go
Procrastination is back in full effect. I’m slowly realizing that this week’s procrastination has a whiff of uncertainty to it. My character is going through a transition into an unstable period of the plot. I’m resisting writing because it’s forcing me to swim through the layers and layers of questions that go into drafting: Is this the right way to start this chapter? Is this the right place for the plot points? I remind myself—again—that I don’t need those answers for a first draft. I need to take a stab at it, get something down on the page that I can build on. I forced myself to get to it after sufficient procrastination time had passed.
Work completed: Chapter 23—8 pages; 2,430 words
January 28: Procrastination is losing its grip
Now that I realize why I’m having such a squirmy week, I know what to tell myself and how to get myself back into action. I assure myself that I can change anything I put down. I allow mild bouts of procrastination, but then I get back into the action reminding myself everything I write this week will likely change when I do my rewrite.
Work completed: Chapter 24—7 pages; 2,316 words
January 29: I’m exhausted
Work has been kicking my butt and I have been kicking butt churning these chapters out. So although I only wrote three chapters this week, when I woke up with no energy, I decided to give myself a break. (But when I woke up in the middle of the night on Saturday, I did dig into the next chapter. I wrote until I felt sleepy again. I love a head start.)
Work completed: 1/2 of Chapter 25 (the day after my writing day)—3 pages; 904 words
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END-OF-THE-WEEK REFLECTION
Fear that you’re doing it wrong can lead to hesitation to give things a try. Hesitation leads to procrastination. There’s no way to know if you’re headed in the right direction without putting it down on the page. You have to give yourself time to think through the mechanics, but once you have a clear idea, don’t waste time obsessing over whether it’s the “right” way. Get it down. See how it performs on the page. You’ll have time to fix it later.
Self-Talk Script: I know that writing something new is challenging, so I don’t expect it to be easy. I will move past my fear and uncertainty and allow myself to be imperfect as I write through the unknown.