Tired of this cold and tired of not having a better routine

It’s day 7 of the cold. I want to write more today than yesterday. I never got to it, although I did read two more of the series books that precede the book I’m working on now. I feel like I have a good handle on the story to date and I’m ready to write, except, well, I’m tired. Colds will do that to you I guess. I read on one of the health sites that they typically last one to two weeks. I’ve developed a bit of a cough that’s irritating my lungs and throat. I’m hopeful I’m on the downward slope here, but I think I’m going to try to doze for a bit before I start writing today.

I have a routine I want to settle into and this is really messing with it, but I want over this cold, the sooner the better, and honestly, I’m barely keeping my eyes open right now. I think I need the rest.

Here’s the routine.

Write from 7 to 2. This isn’t “sit down and write and do nothing else” time. I just want to start fitting my writing in between 7 and 2 so I can stop living in the moment all the time. I have a lot of trouble prioritizing when I’m in the moment. :) In fact, living in the moment is exactly the opposite of what I need to do more often because I do it all the time. I really think that the living in the moment philosophy was created for people with distinctly different personalities than the one I have.

Other stuff after 2 pm. Publishing stuff, life stuff, that kind of thing. Since the publishing stuff I need to do right now is to finish formatting those paperbacks I haven’t done yet, that’s really all I have to do right now other than personal stuff after 2. I do my folks’ taxes and that’s on my list these next couple of weeks, and my own taxes of course. If I can get ahead of my 2,000 a day average, I could take a whole day for the paperbacks, but until I get this next book finished, I’m not going to do that unless I do get ahead. There will definitely be some days where I take the whole day to do publishing stuff, such as after I actually finish a book, but during the writing of said books, I’d like to stick to this routine.

Read through the day’s writing from 7 to 8 pm. Or however long it takes. I doubt it’ll take an hour to read a couple of thousand words. I haven’t changed my overall desire to write an average of 2,000 words a day, although I did have to reset my expectations already when I noticed my expectations creeping up. That happens a lot apparently. I get really bogged down in the copy editing and stuff when I’m done with a story, and I get super nervous worrying that I might have missed something important, and I think this might help. I’ve stopped reading through the previous day’s writing as I’ve become more focused on my words per hour rate and more than just making that final read through more stressful, I also think it’s hurt my enjoyment of writing. This way I can make corrections as I go and when I do that final read through I might not worry so much that I’ve missed something—and maybe I’ll enjoy it a bit more too. ;)

Read fiction from 8:30 til bedtime. This way I can fit in all the reading I want to do this year!

That’s really it. I don’t consider this a schedule, although I’m sure it fits that definition for some folks. For me, it’s just the routine I’d like to find myself slipping into so that I can concentrate on getting all those books I’d like to write this year written.

Now, time for that rest. I’m sleepy and my chest is hurting and I can’t believe it’s just 8:38 am. Hopefully I’ll wake up all energized and ready to write. I’ll probably need to get started by 10 if I want a chance of reaching 2,000 today without writing past 2 o’clock.