Sunday, March 20, 2016

Writing in a Fishbowl: Day Two

Nifty logo of words in a fishbowl

5:35 AM: I may have pushed myself too hard. I've been lying in bed ticking for the past hour. It's hard to sleep when your legs are moving so violently. This will complicate Day Two.

1:09 PM: In all the nights I have been tracking my sleep, I have never seen a wakeup time so low on that graph. No wonder I slept until 1 PM. I was neurologically out of it—practically comatose. I don't think I would have woken up if my bed was on fire. At this moment, I'm not ticking anymore, and I'm finally alert, but now I'm late to church, and any hope of writing before church has been lost to Morpheus' embrace. The day's not over yet, but I have a home teaching appointment to make at 5 PM, I have to pick up the Brownie at 7pm, and there is a temptation to make up for lost time by staying up late after I put her to bed. This would not be wise. I have to wake up the Brownie at 6:20 AM to get her on her school bus.

Strange. I'm not normally so aware of time. This experiment may not produce a finished book, but it certainly is helping me reshape how I think about my days. Many people with ADHD have a poor concept of time because it is relative to whether they are focused or not. I'm one of those people.

 

9:39 PM: One thing occurred to me as I got ready for church: why did I commit to working on this project on the Sabbath? I shook my head at myself, and darted over to the chapel. That's when I discovered the parking lot was empty. It turns out today was the dedication of the Provo City Center Temple. So off to the stake center I went. Arrived just in time. It was a beautiful dedicatory session. Just what I needed today. I ticked a little bit during the session, but nothing too noticeable. Then I was off to visit my daughters over at their mother's, then off again to finish my home teaching. The husband had requested that I prepare a lesson on personal revelation. I gave that lesson to all my families, and finally his tonight. It went off well, and I felt good serving others. Then I went home and ate, played my Irish flute, and met with my bishop. Then off I went to get the Brownie.

No writing done at all.

The Brownie & I went for a walk to tucker her out before bedtime. I had begun ticking in earnest by this time, so I stubbornly went for a walk anyway with both forearm crutches. The walk worked its magic. The Brownie is now asleep, and I'm finally taking a moment to relax.

Will I write tonight? Yes. I am recuperating with ONE episode of Daredevil. Just to catch my breath. Then I hope to get 2000 words done before midnight. We'll see.

 

2:07 AM: I've come to the end of Day Two with a better understanding of this project. When I projected 2000 words, I forgot that I wasn't just writing a blog post where I could shoot from the hip or a fictional story where I made things up. I am writing a non-fiction work that's a game tutorial for parents. I completed section II of V, and the research I did tonight is going to make section III easier to do. In fact, I feel that I can finish it entirely tomorrow. This leaves the rest of the week to finish section IV, which is the largest section of all. V is just a summary. I stated before, this was supposed to be a quick side-project. It's nowhere near on the same scale as my book, "Saying 'NO' to Suicide", even with all the research. It's also the template for other quick projects I have in mind for the near future. I have so many ideas in my head. If I don't improve my output, I'll die before I see most of them come to fruition.

I have a freelance article I need to write tomorrow, I have to move junk out of my garage, and I need to exercise, but aside from that, Section III is all I've got planned. I have no appointments planned. I like to leave Mondays free. The most important thing I need to do this very moment is get to sleep. I have to be up in four hours.


Totals:

Day No.1: 1250 words (plus 1000 written on an article)

Day No.2: 703 words

Project Word Count Total: 1953 words