I just finished writing Year of the Dog ! It had a massive plot hole that I had to fix which turned out to be more work than I expected. Here’s a snippet: “Hey, Auntie Nell.” He wrapped his arms around her, bussing her on the cheek and breathing in pikake flowers and shortbread cookies. And suddenly he was nine years old again, and her solid presence had made his chaotic world stable once more. “What are you doing here?” He usually took her to dinner on Wednesday nights, but today was Tuesday. The edges of her smile faltered a little before brightening right back up again. “What, I can’t visit my nephew?” She angled around him to enter his home. “Is this your new house? Looks lovely.” Which was a blatant lie, because the fixer-upper was barely livable, much less acceptable to a neat-freak like his aunt. She also left four matching pink and purple floral suitcases on the stoop behind her. Only then did Ashwin notice the cab driver standing slightly to the side of the walkway. “Can ...
But I had a good excuse! I've been on deadline for a book and so I was putting in 18-20 hour days working to get it done in time. My poor husband had to deal with no cooking, no cleaning, and barely a "hello" when he came home from work! He also flew to China in the middle of all that (probably a blessing in disguise since he didn't have to watch me go into meltdown over my computer) so I ended up pulling a few all nighters to get the book done in time. And I turned it in! Yay!
Now I'm catching up on all the other work I neglected while I was on deadline.
While I was on deadline, I have to admit I was terrible in terms of eating and exercise. Eating, however, was not as bad as I have been for previous deadlines. While it was carb heavy, I also made sure I ate a lot of protein, too. Exercise, however, really fell by the wayside. Instead of running 3 x a week, I only ran once a week, especially b/c the last week I was on deadline I was either sleeping only 4-6 hours a night or pulling a couple all nighters.
I'm doing the ecoaching thing with Jeff Galloway and he said that in future, I should try to get out for 5-10 minutes every other day rather than not running.
I can see the wisdom of that. I just don't know if I'd have felt I could break off my writing momentum in order to go outside for 15 minutes. Since I started writing 4-5 books a year, I've discovered that my writing is such a weird creative thing that is more momentum driven than when I was in biology work, where I could stop at any time and pick up again a few minutes later. If I stop at a crucial point in my writing, when I sit down at the computer again, it takes me 15-20 minutes to get back into my writing flow. It's very frustrating, which is why I don't stop to eat proper meals--I usually snack every hour instead so I don't interrupt my momentum. (On a positive note, my snacking is typically small portions or lots of fresh raw veggies like carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers.)
Okay, okay, enough excuses. I didn't exercise enough while I was on deadline, which made Jeff scale back my pace and run/walk ratio for my long runs. But then (!!!) I woke up with a cold last week Friday, which is when I was supposed to do my 26 mile long run. I went running anyway but by mile 8 I was done, I was just too sick. I felt better on Monday and ran 8 miles, felt pretty good, but then (!!!) I slipped in the shower Mon night and hyperextended my right knee, which is the knee I've had two ACL surgeries on. It's a bit swollen. I've been icing and elevating it since Mon night and doing some light exercise on the exercise bike, which seems to decrease the swelling a bit. But it also means I haven't run since Monday. I'm feeling better today although the knee still hurts a little when I straighten my leg.
I'm hoping if I feel better on Friday I will still be able to do my 26 miler. I just emailed Jeff to ask him if I can do that. My marathon is in 3.5 weeks, on Dec 12th, so maybe???
My running has just been terribly frustrating for me this week, esp because I had hoped to get back on track right after I finished my deadline!
Now I'm catching up on all the other work I neglected while I was on deadline.
While I was on deadline, I have to admit I was terrible in terms of eating and exercise. Eating, however, was not as bad as I have been for previous deadlines. While it was carb heavy, I also made sure I ate a lot of protein, too. Exercise, however, really fell by the wayside. Instead of running 3 x a week, I only ran once a week, especially b/c the last week I was on deadline I was either sleeping only 4-6 hours a night or pulling a couple all nighters.
I'm doing the ecoaching thing with Jeff Galloway and he said that in future, I should try to get out for 5-10 minutes every other day rather than not running.
I can see the wisdom of that. I just don't know if I'd have felt I could break off my writing momentum in order to go outside for 15 minutes. Since I started writing 4-5 books a year, I've discovered that my writing is such a weird creative thing that is more momentum driven than when I was in biology work, where I could stop at any time and pick up again a few minutes later. If I stop at a crucial point in my writing, when I sit down at the computer again, it takes me 15-20 minutes to get back into my writing flow. It's very frustrating, which is why I don't stop to eat proper meals--I usually snack every hour instead so I don't interrupt my momentum. (On a positive note, my snacking is typically small portions or lots of fresh raw veggies like carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers.)
Okay, okay, enough excuses. I didn't exercise enough while I was on deadline, which made Jeff scale back my pace and run/walk ratio for my long runs. But then (!!!) I woke up with a cold last week Friday, which is when I was supposed to do my 26 mile long run. I went running anyway but by mile 8 I was done, I was just too sick. I felt better on Monday and ran 8 miles, felt pretty good, but then (!!!) I slipped in the shower Mon night and hyperextended my right knee, which is the knee I've had two ACL surgeries on. It's a bit swollen. I've been icing and elevating it since Mon night and doing some light exercise on the exercise bike, which seems to decrease the swelling a bit. But it also means I haven't run since Monday. I'm feeling better today although the knee still hurts a little when I straighten my leg.
I'm hoping if I feel better on Friday I will still be able to do my 26 miler. I just emailed Jeff to ask him if I can do that. My marathon is in 3.5 weeks, on Dec 12th, so maybe???
My running has just been terribly frustrating for me this week, esp because I had hoped to get back on track right after I finished my deadline!
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Camy