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What I'm writing in YEAR OF THE DOG

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 ...
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Work


I've been doing the devotional Thessalonians: A 5-Day Reading Plan by NewSpring Church on the YouVersion Bible app, and today's devotional (day 5) and Bible reading was really good for me.

Lately I've been disappointed with my work output, my number of hours worked per day and my words written per day. I think I'm comparing myself to other writers who are so much more focused and disciplined than I am, and have insane word count outputs, and are making six figures a year. I'm also trying to achieve the same number of hours worked as when I was a biologist, but biology work was much less mentally strenuous than writing has been.

So I've been struggling to improve my focus and my discipline, but I get lazy very easily. God has given me this gift of working from home, so I should take advantage of it, right? But just yesterday I really didn't want to work, and since I'm home all day there's no one to notice if I slack off.

The devotional made me remember that I've lost focus on the reason I'm writing--God told me to write, and this is the job He's given to me. I need to JUST DO IT and not forget that He is the reason I write.

Do you struggle with work? How do you deal with it?
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Sarita said…
I struggle with motivation some times and it is so easy to get distracted. When I find myself in this mode, I try to remember that verse: Everything you do, do it as if you are doing it for God. This and setting small goals. For example, work an hour on this then take a 5 min social media break.
Mon Oct 26, 07:11:00 AM 2020
Camy Tang said…
Thanks Sarita! That's a great reminder!
Mon Oct 26, 08:40:00 AM 2020
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