This weekend, I learned something interesting.
I always take Sundays off from the writing. We generally go out to eat on Sunday morning, and by the time I get back, it would take me so long to get back into a writing frame of mind it isn’t worth it. So I putter on Sunday mornings, then I spend Sunday afternoons at the library, doing publishing work.
I know that for some writers, taking a planned day off from the writing is sacrilegious. There are plenty of writers out there who insist that you MUST write every day.
Fuck that shit.
I’ve been writing a long time now. I haven’t always taken a planned day off. But I’ve always known that I write best if I take a day off now and again, say, one day in ten. (That’s what my usual habit was, when not interrupted by illness.)
This last week plus I’ve been using my productivity planner. I’ve been productive and focused for the last eleven days.
When yesterday rolled around, that is, the twelfth day, though I had my list and a bunch of things planned for the day, my brain basically said, “Fuck that shit.” I couldn’t really concentrate or do the things that I’d planned. I did manage a couple of the most important things. Then I kind of goofed off.
Lesson learned.
I need to schedule one day off from the business stuff as well as one day off from the writing.
I don’t want to schedule Sundays off from the business. I really like my Sunday routine.
I’ve noticed in the past that I don’t tend to do a lot on Fridays. I generally won’t go into town or do anything on the internet. I schedule other work on Fridays and I do that instead.
So I think I’m going to try taking Friday afternoons off from the business. Go into town and do some shopping, or go to a coffeeshop and sit and read. I’ll glance at my email but I won’t answer any unless it’s critical. (I already tend to do that on Fridays anyway.)
I may or may not do business stuff on Saturdays. If I do, it’ll be extra stuff, not planned and on the schedule.
Then Sunday starts my work week, or at least my business work week. Mondays starts my writing work week.
Except for this week. This week is kind of different. While Blaze is staying here and holding down the home front, I’m spending the week in Seattle, at an AirBnB. I’m going to have internet 24-7, and I plan on getting a tremendous amount of work done. There are a couple of large, internet intensive projects that I need to do. This is how I’m planning on getting them done.
I’m also currently planning on not getting a lot done this afternoon in terms of publishing. I’m not going to start the project until tomorrow. Instead, I’m driving into town, taking myself out to dinner, then maybe watching some TV. (Okay, I’ll admit it, I always work when I watch TV. Just watching TV without anything else to do is boring.)
But it won’t be a lot. Tomorrow the real work begins. Will spend the mornings writing, then will work from noon until 10 PM for the next few days.
While it’s a lot of work, it means it will all be off my plate. And that’s important.
(For those of you interested in the details – all of my print books were brought over from CreateSpace to KDP Print. 116 titles. I need to spend a couple of days cleaning up all the metadata. Then, in January, I get to do it all again, when IngramSpark finally pulls over all my titles over to them.)
I hope you’re looking forward to your Monday as well!