Well, the title pretty much sums it up, doesn’t it?

I was not up to working yesterday. Thursday night I stayed up late trying to pickle my Giardia, but it didn’t work.

Anyway, I decided to do Friday’s goals today instead of having my usual Saturday off. I didn’t quite make it: my sister came for a visit, and I only managed 2 of my 3 40/20 sessions. But I did meet my writing goals, and I wrote a little over 700 words. Not bad for 15 minutes! Of course, they’re not, you know, manuscript words. A little scattered. But definitely something I can work with. The funny thing is that I wasn’t really feeling it, so I started off my talking out-loud part by just talking about what was bothering me about doing this. I realized that even though I do usually “start early” as Boice puts it, this has been a little bit earlier than I’m used to, and I guess I’d expected the chapter to start having some more focus by now. But then I started talking about what kinds of focus it might have, and how it connected to the bigger manuscript, and boom! I got an idea, and 700 words later, I have about two or three things waiting to be a little more flushed out. I also have a sense of how this narrative can flow from an analytical place rather than a strictly descriptive place. I like that, because overly descriptive writing makes me bored (both reading it and writing it).

So, my goals for the rest of the long weekend are going to be a little more relaxed, given the other stuff that needs doing. So tomorrow and Monday each, 1 freewrite (with mindful waiting). Tomorrow, 1 40 minute session of note combing. Perhaps some more detailed note reading.

Filed under: writing thesis