Goal setting during the holidays


Christmas is four days away, but I'm not letting it stop me from progressing or letting it be an excuse to take a break.  I wrote 10,577 words last week, and if all goes well, tonight's writing sprint will closeout Chapter Two.  

In order to stay on point, I've decided to check in with myself every week and take a look at the schedule one week at a time.  What would I have to do to write four scenes this week?  What would that look like?  Where can I fit it in or make the time?  You'd think the answer to that question would be easy given that we're all stuck inside with little else to occupy our time, but I've worked hard in the last months to ensure my days are balanced.  As someone who is a "life long learner," in my pre-pandemic life, I tended to go all in on projects and then top out or lose interest quickly when I felt like I'd learned what I needed or was ready for the next challenge.  That obviously won't work with a project like this so I'm trying to find the balance between hitting my goals every week and not losing steam.

The other thing I'm trying to keep in mind right now for that balance is physical activity.  I found out last week that it was really easy for me to go from sitting all day for work to sitting all night working on scenes without taking any time to get off my ass and move around.  The dull gray light and cold weather right now isn't helping my motivation at all.  Interestingly, my reminder to make time for fitness also came from Camp.  One of my lifelong camp friends and his wife stopped in Milwaukee on their way through to Kohler over the weekend and I barely recognized them because they'd both lost so much weight.  As we sat in my garage socializing while distancing, they stressed that part of their success had been incorporating simple 30 minute workouts into their lives four to five days a week.  Nothing they said was earth shattering - it was all stuff we've all heard before or know in our hearts to be true - but when you add the packed punch of seeing their success with your own eyes after only seeing their faces on Zoom for the last nine months, it was really striking.

This is by no means going to turn into a fitspo blog, but I wanted to acknowledge that I have to make fitness a part of my mental/physical health in order to keep that balance that I know is so crucial for me in making it to the finish line with this book.  If I finish writing my first draft and pack on 20 pounds while doing it because all I did was sit around writing and eating, then the success of the draft will forever be shadowed for me by that ugly approach I took to the writing which isn't going to do me any favors for future writing projects.  I guess this is a long way for me to say that I want to cut out bad habits before they even get started.  And yes, that means that today I did a 30 minute workout and sweat my balls off doing it.

As I close out Chapter Two tonight, I'll be writing my first substantial scene with serious conflict between the two main characters.  They already got off on the wrong foot during check-in but this will solidify their tenuous relationship for the majority of the story...wish me luck! 

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