Yesterday, I felt as though I had finally really found my groove when it came to the fiction writing. I did 3000 words in less than 2 hours. It felt good, it was fun, and I’m looking forward to writing today.

That was what I really needed to accomplish with writing in coffee shops. To get back into focus, back into the habit of writing. As I said before, will keep this up for all of this week, then camping next week, then we’ll see. Might continue going out to coffee shops once a week or so, or go back to just every once in a while.

This morning, I’m at a coffee shop that I’ve been to before. I keep coming back to this place because the tables are at the right height, so I can stand and type.

That was another habit I’d needed to rebuild – standing and writing. I remember many years ago, teaching myself to write standing. I did it for years. Then I kind of fell out of the habit this year, in part due to illness, in part due to everything else. I still did it, but infrequently. I’ve been standing and writing almost every morning now for the last week. It feels good again.

One of the things I’d learned when I first taught myself to write was that I always found it a touch more difficult to concentrate when I was standing. Even when I’m fully into the habit, I still find that there are times when I want to sit, because I need to focus. Generally it’s a very quiet scene and there’s a lot going on, on several levels.

But I plan on keeping up this habit and writing while standing the majority of the time.

I have kept up the habit of walking. I always feel as though I need to do more than I am. However, that would call for a commitment that I’m currently unwilling to make.

Part of the problem with the walking is that I only measure my steps at this time. Steps does not equal effort. Tonight I’ll mow again. That means hauling a heavy mower up and down hills and across rough terrain. I’ll only register 7000 or so steps for the day. But I’m burning so many more calories than that indicates. Plus, on days like that, aiming for 10K is stupid. I’d be exhausted.

One of the habits I haven’t rebuilt (yet!) is tracking my projects and time and such. I do really well for a while, like when I got the new project planner, and then I stop, lose track, and I don’t pick it back up. At some point, I’d like to find a system that works, and that keeps working.

And I think that’s it for the morning. What habits are you working on building?