Thursday, November 17, 2016

Writing in a Fishbowl v3 – Day Two

Nifty logo of words in a fishbowl

3:39 PM: One of the reasons I don’t attempt NaNoWriMo anymore is because of family. I’m a stay-at-home dad, so I’m on duty all day long. If I’m not ticking, it’s family drama. There’s always something pulling me away from my work. Finding focus is so stupendously difficult. This afternoon was no different.

My iPhone jangled, and I saw that my daughter’s school was calling. Every time they call, a momentary panic surges through my body as I worry if my daughter is having another seizure. Today, her teacher called to ask if I could pick her up from school instead of letting her take the bus. She was sick and in pain. So off to school I went! But not before helping my dad move a car in his driveway while fielding a call from my daughter’s therapist. I arrived on time, but then traffic…life…more talking…taking care of my daughter…taking care of my daughter…taking care of…you get the idea. I’m finally sitting down to finish laying out my book and the day’s half over. Makes me so mad.

Mad at my family? No. Mad at me. I woke up late this morning. Regrettably, I fell back asleep after my alarm. I woke up refreshed, but foolishly decided to read news first. ALMOST TWO HOURS LATER I noticed the time. ADHD had moved in for the kill. After I showered, shaved, and prepared my day, it was time to get my daughter. What an avoidable mistake!

I should have stuck to my routine. I have my three dailies: scriptures, prayer, and morning exercises. Limit news to 15–30 minutes. No news on insanely busy days. Eat. Look at my todo list. Get busy. It’s not overly complicated. ADHD requires routine to keep distractions in check. Yet I spent the morning surfing distractions while gleefully cheering, “Cowabunga!” Good thing I footled about on Twitter while fighting for the Republic. I’d hate to think I misspent my time.

Now I’m back on track. I accomplished a great deal yesterday. I had to recreate the graphics at a higher resolution. I spent time making design choices. I formatted all of the book, and corrected mistakes here and there. All that’s left today is the Appendix and the cover. Then a few infrastructure things, and bam! I can publish.

I must publish today. I’ll feel imbecilic publishing this book tomorrow. I know it’s late. I know the next version of Pokémon drops tomorrow. But pride dictates I at least publish the day before. (How I love ADHD…)

Time to focus
-–—> • <—–-

♪ Listening to: Soft Scene by Autolux


11:38 PM: It's not looking like I'll make it before midnight, but it's going to be close.



If you found this blog post a jumbled mess, you’ll enjoy my book instead. All the sentences are organized in tidy rows.