SUSAN TIPPETT BRAITHWAITE

Last week was odd. It started with a mystery leak in the kitchen that ate a fair bit of writing time. A leak that, after hunting its source down, turned out to be a spill ???? But after that… nothing. No dramas. No llamas. No distractions.

Review 7th – 13th April 2022

Here’s what last week’s goals looked like:

• Add 5,000 words to Running the Asset’s manuscript, taking it to 106,012.

I Did Some Experimentation

I won’t rehash every day as I’ve shared my daily word count pics below. But, I will share that I did some experimentation last week. When I write, I like to be nice and comfy. I wear baggy trousers, have my compression gloves on–those are more of a medical need than a comfort thing, and I sit on the sofa.

That was until this week. I’ve been keeping track of all my writing stats: words per minute, words per hour, length of writing sprints, time of day, and where I completed the sprint.

My data revealed that my ideal writing conditions were not what I had been doing. The data suggest that thirty-minute sprints during the afternoons are best for me–but I rarely have time or the inclination to write then. And my most productive location is sitting at my tiny desk in the cold corner of the living room, on my really uncomfortable chair.

I decided to give one sprint session over to doing what the data suggested was my best combination. The result of that first sprint convinced me to try another sprint with that combo. Then another. And one more in the afternoon–which gave me a considerable chunk of wordage. That was Thursday, the day where I lost time to the not-a-leak.

After that, I stuck to the cold corner and did my sprints in the morning for the next two days.

And then it was Sunday.

Getting started was a struggle mainly because I knew I had to hit 1,466 words to meet my 5K target for the week. I procrastinated like a pro. Canva is an evil place. And, remembering you have a newsletter to prep for next month is even worse.

Suddenly, it was afternoon, and I hadn’t written a single word of that 1,466. With the pressure mounting, I knew I had to get started or post a word count update with a big fat zero. I forced myself to start the timer.

By the time I finished the first timer, I was in the zone. The words were just flowing, the sequence played out like a movie in my head, and I couldn’t stop. By the time I’d blown by 1,466, my bad hand was screaming at me to stop, my semi-good one threatening to kill me in my sleep, but I couldn’t stop.

Fortunately, I finished the sequence–a really fucking long but fun-filled one–and was able to walk away satisfied and shocked that I’d written so much.

The results of my experiment are that the corner is my friend, afternoons are great for playing catch-up, and I beat my 5K goal for the week. My total word count for the week was 6,109, taking Running the Asset to 107,121 words.

I did learn from my mega-Sunday. I will never do that kind of craziness again. I’m glad I did it, but man, I’m still paying for it now.

This Week’s Goals

• Add 5,000 words to Running the Asset’s manuscript, taking it to 112,121.

That’s it for today. Thanks for stopping by, and take care.

Susan

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