Rough day for the words. I’ve been on a tear, going through about a chapter a day and I hit the wall today. I didn’t get the chapter done. It’s a 5,000 word mess that probably should be split in two, but I don’t know that it will be. There is a natural break point that I could use, but it makes the next one about a thousand words, which is no good either. I will probably solve the equation with a line break consisting of three asterisks, and keep the flow of the thing going.
What I learned today was why I struggle with writing at home: Too many distractions. At home I started putting the phone in a different room. That helped a bit, but I work on three screens in that house, which gives me plenty of screen space to screw off. I need to change that dynamic. Perhaps change to full screen mode and only have specific data on the side screens. There needs to be less going on in order for me to slip into story. I live in complete chaos, so that rarely happens. There is always madness about. I need to get better about shutting out the madness and about making a better balance of work vs. break.
Break does not mean relax. There are plenty of things I can be doing. Exercise above all. I need to work mind, body, and spirit. That last one drags most of the time while in Arizona, because of what the place truly is and the stressors attached to it (also impacting mind and body). There needs to be a deeper dive for me into how to get it right. I need a plan. Maybe I can publish that plan as part of my 10 for sixty.
That’s the new plan: 10 major pieces of writing by 60. I want it to be 10 books, but who knows what I will get into over this next decade.