Hitting my Stride

I've re-worked my daily schedule so that the afternoons are free for writing.  It's always been this way but the cleaning schedule I had wasn't working so much for me anymore.  I've moved on from the Flylady and am custom making a new schedule so I'm not cleaning all day.  Because it's only just the two of us, how much is there to do?

Actually, quite a bit still.  There's a lot of progress since I left my job, the house is generally "company ready," we have clean and folded clothes, clean dishes, fresh sheets and all that stuff.  But there's still a bit of de-cluttering to do.  Once it's all cleaned out, it'll be easier to maintain but I'll need to let go of a bit more of stuff before that point.



But writing must be done, too.  There will always be something to wash, fold or put away.  Last week I sabotaged two days of writing by inviting a pastor and his family to come over = lots of deep cleaning plus a holiday.  The week before that, my self-sabotage included a garage sale.  But this week so far is sabotage-free.

I've written over 20,000 words so far and still have more chapter ideas.  This book is double the size of the first one.  But there will be chapters that won't make the final cut.  I decided to take my laptop to the couch and start a separate window to write in (using google docs) so that I wouldn't be distracted by message notifications.  My goal was to write until the battery ran out.

As I started on a chapter of spiritual warfare, there was less than 30 minutes left of battery life.  I was just finishing up when the battery warning started, so I plugged in and kept going to finish it.  And then my hubby walks up the stairs and wants to talk.  I find it ironic that the only distractions came during the spiritual warfare chapter.  So if you think of it, please pray for this writing process.

Three chapters written today, a huge leap from last week's distractions.  I realized more and more that I need a quiet place to work.  Even though my hubby knows I need to concentrate, I'm right out in the middle of things - the kitchen or the living room.  The craft room will eventually have an area to write in.  Perhaps I should make it a priority in my cleaning to get that done so I can close the door.

But all in all, a good day of writing.  The chapters worked out better than I hoped, so I think I'm hitting my stride.  And I also think I've accidentally written my opening chapter.