Total for the week: 44,472 words.
Happy birthday to me! No wait… Happy Birthday, dear husband! No wait…! Happy anniversary!… Um, actually…Happy anniversary of the day we met!
Confused yet?
Yesterday was actually my birthday. It was also my husband’s birthday. And it was also our wedding anniversary. We got married one year to the day from the date we met.
In other words, all four are true.
Every year since we met online 25 years ago, we have held a party on our birthdays/wedding anniversary. We call it the Birthaversary. This year, because of COVID19, we are not holding a party for the first time in 24 years.
It could have been worse. It could have been 2022, in which case, we would have been denied holding a 25th Wedding Anniversary. But missing for the first time in 24 years still feels, well, weird.
Ten days ago, staring at this upcoming date, we discussed what we might do instead to mark the four combined anniversaries. And we came up with a plan:
- Zero work. No writing, nothing.
- Watch Star Wars everything, all day, starting with Rogue One, on through the first three original movies, then one of the animated series (we’re leaning heavily toward Rebels right now).
- Have a big Chinese banquet delivered for dinner and pig out.
I really liked the idea, but I’m also behind my schedule and another day out heavily impacts trying to catch up. However, recently, I made some tweaks to my schedule and how I lay out my days and it does seem to be making a big difference to getting the words down. I’ve also read a book that shifted my perspective on a lot of stuff.
Both the book and the method of scheduling I will discuss at a later date–I want to get another week or two of writing finished to see how this new schedule style works out over the longer term (as anyone can white-knuckle their way through something new for a few days).
But the week just gone by was a very positive indication that things have changed. Not only did I get my scheduled word count done, I also wrote extra words, so that Monday was free and clear. No catching up. Just roll into Tuesday and back to normal, after a lovely day off.
And I got all those words written.
I’m actually writing this on Sunday afternoon, after having written all the words needed to clear Monday (my tomorrow, your yesterday).
I’m not going to start doing cartwheels over my productivity. Not yet. This was just one week. I want to wait to see how this works out over the long term. But I’m feeling pretty happy and optimistic about everything right now.
May the Force be with you.
t.