Congrats to those of you finishing Nanowrimo today!
For a while now I’ve been tracking my writing time (and writing a program to analyze it, the results of which I’ll discuss I ever finish it (this is a programming exercise as much as a way to get the results)). Recently I recorded everything I did for about a week and a half–which was incredibly tedious–to see where I can squeeze more writing into the day.
The results were rather depressing. There really weren’t any big chunks of wasted time to get rid of. Alas! While it’s nice to know I haven’t been wasting my life, that means I have to get creative if I want to cram more time into my week. (I’m pretty good about using the time that I have, but I’d like to find more of it, without cutting out anything important. Good luck, right?)
I did learn random nifty things: it was taking me twice as long to get out of bed and down to the basement to work out as it did to get out of bed and leave for the pool. That was easy to fix by getting my workout clothes ready the night before no matter what kind of workout it is. Also, it takes me far too long to shower, dress, and prep breakfast and lunch in the morning, so this week I’m trying out something I’ve been planning for awhile: doing a week’s worth on Sunday. It was a tight squeeze to put 5 containers of muesli, yogurt, and berries in the fridge with all the Thanksgiving leftovers, but nice to know I don’t have to think about it for the whole week. (I didn’t even try to fit the scrambled eggs in the fridge this week, though).
I also applied the data to a new writing schedule. The old one had fallen by the wayside, but I’ve been sticking to a pretty good mental schedule, so I wrote that one up on my calendar to give myself the satisfaction of marking sessions off. (Yes, I am one of those people who will put things I’ve already done on my to do list just so I can cross them off.)
The final piece of my time tracking investigation is to not worry about it nearly as much as this entry makes it sound like I am. Really. I just like having a schedule.