Love Me to the Bone
Draft 1
Words Added: 709
What Happened in the Story: Devon wants to show Madeline his favorite synthwave record, and they have a silly time dancing and lip syncing and end with an unexpected but mutually delightful kiss.
Additional Notes: OH HI THERE. What month is it? WHAT YEAR? Geez, Louise, it’s been a minute. If you subscribe to my analog (or digital copy) newsletter, you’ll know a bit of why November was such a royal bust for novel writing, and I’m not promising December will be better. Normally, I plan to take December off entirely, because what with kiddos and holidays and houseguests and snow days and other unpredictable madness, it’s usually just too weird of a time to be very productive, and I find that if I *try* to demand progress of myself, I usually just end up depressed and frustrated. SO NONE OF THAT this year.
I’m trying something a little new, though, and I’m curious to see if it sticks or not. Last year, I went into my office and wrote primarily in the morning hours (usually about 8:30-11:30 or 12). This was in part because Thing 2 had preschool literally in the building next door, and there’s a coffee shop right there, too, and it didn’t make much sense to drive him in and then go back home. So I would just come straight to the office, do my stuuuuufff, and then head back to exercise the dog/get lunch/etc.
That schedule has NOT worked this year. NOT AT ALL. For one thing, both Thing 1 and Thing 2 are on the bus now, which means I only have to walk outside to get them to school. EASY. AWESOME, actually. But it changes the dynamic of my morning. Because I’m already home when they get on the bus, it didn’t make sense to have the dog out and try to squeeze in his AM time while they get chaotically ready, when I could just take him out after they’re on their way and we can have a quiet morning. I hate mornings, so this works out well. He does his routine. I get coffee, eat some breakfast, dick around, and it removes the AM rush of getting into the office.
WELL. At first, I planned to get the pooch out for about an hour and run him around before getting him settled back in his crate until lunchtime. The problem with this plan was that I was also trying to get in a better workout habit, because my own physical activity has been poorly neglected for some years, and I wanted to get a bit stronger. Turns out, most workout classes I could attend were mid-morning classes: 9:15/10AM/11. But this was now SQUARELY in the middle of my precious office time. What to do? I couldn’t take later classes, because I had to be home for the boys to get off the bus, and nobody really offered noon/1PM/2PM classes. (I did arrange for my physical trainer to do 1-2 or 2-3pm training, but I needed a half-hour to get home, all the same.) But those weren’t regular scheduled sessions, either; they shift every week. *cue brain fizz* It was only two times a week, but I really wanted to get it up to three times at some point, because it FELT GOOD, and it was good for me.
But if I was going in to a class or a session at 9:15, it didn’t make any sense to go to my office BEFORE that. And why put the dog in his crate earlier than I had to? If I was going at 10am, same deal: with the travel time incorporated, it worked out to around 45 minutes at the office, which felt silly to bother with.
So on those days, I’d just try “working from home” which is really short for “having no focus on anything at all and losing my momentum on everything.” And then it was short for, “i feel bad that i’m not getting done what i need to get done,” and then it was short for, “how am I not getting any writing done AND not getting any household things done, EITHER?”
Because it turns out, that the amount of energy it takes for me to get creative work done at home, while also juggling shifting AM schedules, and working with the dog, followed by the physical exertion of actually exercising, would leave me UTTERLY DRAINED by the time I got home from said training/class. Then all I wanted to do was eat lunch and chill out and play video games or watch TV or whatever else felt undemanding until the boys came home. So the household stuff was falling by the wayside, the creative work was falling by the wayside, and then I GOT SICK, with an epic cold, and boy that just threw everything into the wood chipper.
SO WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? Well. I don’t know why it’s taken so long to realize this, but here it goes: I’m trying to come into the office at noon and work until 3. In the mornings, I will get the boys on the bus, get the dog out, have breakfast, and DO ALL MY MINI-CHORES I have on a fancy list with post-it notes. Those are my “base minimum” (i.e. the “I feel bad about myself if I don’t at least do these small things daily” requirement). IF I finish my chores (of which there aren’t all that many, and I deliberately keep them small AND allow myself to half-ass them on bad energy days just so long as I do them *a little*), then I can play video games or do whatever random thing I want to do until lunch. Then I eat, and by noon, I’m heading out the door. I can go to the office, work until 3PM, but then I have a hard stop and have to get back home for when the boys return.
BUT, this also aligns better with my energy levels, I think. For example: while first thing in the morning SUCKS, by about 8:30AM (~2.5 hours after wakeup and post-coffee), I’m actually feeling pretty good and perky. I have excess energy. I’m motivated to do things. Instead of wasting this time on writing (WASTING, I know, I know–but it’s the physicality of the energy that I need to optimize), I get my chores done and listen to an audiobook. I’m entertained, but getting things DONE while I have the maximum amount of energy to overcome any inertia that would prefer NOT to do the boring things I need to do. I also get two regular meals, because when I’d try to get into the office, I’d rush things or not eat breakfast at all, because every minute was a minute I wasn’t writing. But then, by mid-morning, I’d be starving and not working all that well. Or I’d blow through lunch, because I was on a roll, but then didn’t remember to eat good things when I got back. This way, I’m satiated the whole time.
It also means, that when I have to schedule appointments/training/classes, I can easily do so in the AM hours before noon. Then they’re interrupting “house stuff” time, not precious writing time, which can be more easily protected in the afternoon.
Another thing it’s doing is aligning with my energy flow during the day. Physical chores take a lot of energy for me, but writing is generally a lower-energy demand, because I enjoy it and genuinely want to do it. I still need a BIT of energy, though, to get over the inevitable “blank page” hesitation, but I’m all set right after lunch when I get that energy boost from eating. Then, I’ve done my “house stuff” AND my “writing stuff” before I get home and the boys get home, and I feel much less bad about just kicking back and NOT doing anything much or only easy, fun things during my lowest energy hours, which is the time between post-school and my bedtime.
To Note: I have no idea if this will work or stick, but it feels a LOT more in-tune with how my days typically flow, and maybe it’ll end up being exactly the change I need.
Thanks for following along, and I hope you enjoy the ride! I’ll try and make these daily updates (on writing days), but I’ll probably miss a few now and then. Sorry about that in advance, but I’ll do my best to be consistent. If you’re craving some personal stakes in this process, feel free to toss me a “You Can Do It!” donation at my Ko-fi shop! I’m going to need a lot of coffee for this…
