One is never too old to learn, I guess. Today I learned that when I get up, just use a little bit of brain power to perform some basic morning tasks, and start writing immediately without faffing about on the internet for at least an hour while drinking coffee, I can get so much done.
I got up at 7 and started writing at 7.30 a.m. I had some errands to run this morning (and I had to leave the flat for a little while in order to not go insane) and by the time I left around 10, I had written 1300 words (which were all written before 9 a.m. I must add, but then I had to catch up on Facebook and the crazy vortex of internet gossip, so yeah.)
I did all my errands on foot, which took a bit longer, but October in Hong Kong is gorgeous and finally allows for some casual walking as opposed to frantically-wiping-away-the-sweat walking.
I was back at my computer by 2 p.m. and with a few short breaks in between wrote until 5 p.m., which resulted in another 2300 words. That’s a grand total of 3600 words today. Not bad at all considering I was out of the house for a big part of it.
So, today was an excellent writing day and I know exactly what made the difference with yesterday. As old-fashioned as it may sound, the key factor here was sleep. The night before I slept badly, still adjusting to sleeping alone, having too much room in the bed (which is quite ironic since our bed is way too small and I always end up on my wife’s half when she’s here).
The conclusion is the following: in order to reach my word count, I need to sleep well. In order to sleep well I need to NOT sit on my lazy backside all day (quite hard when you’re a writer suffering from internet addiction.) I knew I had to do something to tire my body as well as my brain last night. I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I did 100 push-ups, so yeah. (*)
Anyway, I’m ‘quite’ confident I can meet my goal, if I can have some big days next week. I fear the worst for this weekend, though. I’m going to a dinner party at a friend’s house tonight and this particular person firmly believes that from a single bottle of wine one can only serve three glasses. (Yes, most of my friends are borderline alcoholics, but it’s what we call the Hong Kong Lifestyle.)
I know from experience that a hangover equals zero words written, but we’ll see. I’m cutting myself some slack though because, well, I don’t really know why.
Until tomorrow (hopefully!)
The numbers:
Day 1: 1000 words
Day 2: 3600 words
Total: 4600 words
(*) Disclaimer: these push-ups were performed in the course of an hour and not in one go.
