The New Writing Routine (Until It Changes Again...)

I posted back in June that my schedule has been constantly shifting. Well, with fall finally here and both kids in school (Youngest only for a couple hours per day, four days a week), the schedule has shifted again. And I thought it would be nice to report in and let everyone know how things are going, since I've been at it for about four weeks.

The Positive

❦ September has been much better than the first few months of the year. I actually feel like I'm making progress, and I feel way less scattered.

❦ I'm not as exhausted (though still a bit tired because of my own bad habits of staying up too late), since I'm not walking Youngest so far to school. 25 minutes of walking a day is much more doable than 2 hours (heck, I've even taken to walking another 20 minutes just to enjoy the day and exercise a bit, once I drop Youngest off -- still way better than 2 hours).

❦ This month I managed to revise 5.1k, only 0.9k short of my main goal. That's the second best month I've had this year for productivity! Oh, and that's with squeezing an originally unplanned beta read in.

❦ I'm at the halfway point in revisions for Thorns Entwine the Blade (Trinity Torn, 3). Yay!

❦ I haven't come down with the plague yet, nor have my kids. This is rather amazing because usually we're all sick within a couple weeks of school starting up again. And yes, I'm knocking on all kinds of wood right now for even mentioning this. XD

The Not So Positive (I don't want to use that bad word...)

❦ I still get distracted during my writing/revising hours and haven't started in on things as early as I would like to. I think I'm enjoying a break from both kids too much and then I lose track of time (don't get me wrong, I love them to pieces, but small breaks are nice, especially from Youngest because she is a pistol). Once I get going, I'm fine, but it's the getting started I need to improve.

❦ Most times I'm using tea or soda to wake myself up a bit for writing sessions. Though I don't feel like I'm going to pass out like when I was walking so much, afternoons are still more difficult for me compared to mid-mornings. It's those after lunch sleepies.

❦ I'm still a bit behind on even my revised goals for the year that I outlined back in June.

All in all, as you can see, this current writing routine is working out way better than any of the others I had to juggle and shuffle earlier this year. I think that with time and getting more used to the routine, I'll be less distracted before writing time and start in earlier.

It does mean that I'm getting closer to finishing Thorns Entwine the Blade. Once I finish revisions, it's off to my copy editor. Maybe I'll even finish sooner than planned -- who knows!