On Schedule

Good morning! Happy Tuesday!

I’ve already been awake for hours and it’s only 9:00 AM. I love early mornings like this! I get so much accomplished.

Last week, I mentioned that I talked to a writing coach, who, in just 20 minutes, gave me some very helpful ideas to better streamline the process of writing a book. Some of you have contacted me about writing your own book, so I wanted to share some of her tips:

• Spend at least an hour a day writing, no matter what
• Carry a small notebook to jot down ideas that you want to include in the book
• Imagine your readers as you write
• Find support in someone who has written a book (i.e. Caitlin)
• Remember that books are written word by word
• Believe it can be done

So, I’ve been spending the early part of my day writing away– and I’ve actually had quite a bit of success. I’ve already written 6 short chapters– that’s 2 chapters a week! Not too shabby, right? I’m technically 2 chapters behind according to the schedule that I made for myself, but hopefully, I’ll catch up over the holidays.

I know that most of you are schedule people, so I thought you’d be curious as to what my new day looks like. Tuesday through Friday, this is my schedule:

• 5:01 AM: Wake up, immediately put on workout clothes
• 5:03 AM: Turn on space heater
• 5:05 AM: Check email
• 5:07 AM: Start writing
• 6:00 AM: Mal and Murphy wake up
• 6:05 AM: Take Murphy for a quick walk
• 6:25 AM: Return from walk and feed Murph
• 6:30 AM: Write for 30 more minutes, drink coffee
• 7:00 AM: Put Murphy in crate and go to gym
• 8:00 AM: Return from gym, take Murph out of crate
• 8:01 AM: Shower and get dressed
• 8:30 AM: Make breakfast, eat breakfast
• 9:00 AM: Blog about breakfast
• 9:30 AM: Drive to NuVal
• 10:00 AM: Start work at NuVal
• 3:00 PM: End work at NuVal and drove home
• 3:30 PM: Arrive home and take Murphy for a walk
• 4:00 PM: Return from walk and eat a snack
• 4:20 PM: Watch Ellen, clean, check email, start dinner post
• 5:00 PM: Feed Murphy and start making dinner
• 6:00 PM: Eat dinner
• 6:30 PM: Blog about dinner
• 7:00 PM: Do more work
• 8:00 PM: Relax/watch TV
• 9:00 PM: Go to bed

Pre-Workout Snack

My stomach was grumbling first thing this morning, so I made myself some toast with peanut butter while I worked on my book. My editor gave me feedback on 4 chapters, so I’ve got a lot of work to do!

A little while later, I put on a pot of coffee.

Workout

After about an hour of writing, I headed to the gym for a workout. I did 55 minutes on the elliptical while reading Real Simple and Self, followed by 3 sets of push-ups and crunches.

Breakfast

When I returned from the gym, I made breakfast. I pretty much finished off the jar of peanut butter when I made my toast early this morning, so I knew just how to utilize the mostly-empty jar.

Oats in a jar!

I threw some raisins and ground flaxseed meal into the mix.

Food for Thought Series

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is hosting a Food for Thought series in the coming weeks and I thought some of the local readers might be interested. For more information about these events, check out these descriptions.

• Wednesday, January 27, 6:00 pm
  Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
• Thursday, February 11, 6:00 pm
  Where Our Food Comes From: The Origins of Agriculture
• Tuesday, February 23, 6:00 pm
  From Cooking Food to Cooking the Planet: Growing Constraints to Food Production

Question of the Day

What’s your morning schedule like? Is it consistent or does it change often?

Tagged as: oats in a jar, writing tips