I continue to be frustrated (or is that frustrate myself?) by not creating the time to write at home, and in the last couple of months, the writing on the train time that served me so well for nearly the last year now doesn’t serve me too well at all.
There’s not much to say really, except that I’ve started catching a much earlier train (about an hour earlier), and I’m lucky if I ever get a seat for most of the journey, when previously I was always guaranteed a seat on the later train. A guaranteed seat meant I got the laptop out quickly, and I’ve found it the best time to get writing done — no distractions, no other obligations. I could get upwards of 1000 words done in 45 minutes or less. I’ve found for years now that first thing in the morning was always the most productive time, so on the way home is largely out (never got more than 20% of daily quota done even in the best of times).
So now, not so much. I get a seat for 20 minutes if I’m lucky, and the best use for it now seems to be catching up on blogging (like right now), which certainly serves a purpose, but doesn’t replace the mega-productivity I had before. Not to mention the fact of course that I fully intend to change my work situation and avoid 1.5 hour commutes in the future — so things have to change.
Yes, not only do I have to find a better time, I have to work getting the writing done at home, because I don’t want all that commuting time! But this isn’t about excuses, or being a whinging bitch, it’s about getting all this down in a concrete form and fixing it.
Have I mentioned here the other very odd problem I’ve had with writing? My laptop had a very odd problem where one of the keys broke off recently (through over use I guess 🙂 ) and because a small piece of the clips broke, I can’t reattach it properly. What makes this worse is that it’s the fullstop key — possibly the most used regular key, naturally. So this cuts into productivity as well. Looking at eBay or somewhere else for a replacement, but it’s not the easiest thing to fix, despite being so small.
So this isn’t about failing — no chance. This is about fixing the slight problems that exist, and powering forward. I should probably do a whole other process on learning the editing process and the tools I’m using and discovering for that, but that’s for another time. I need to emphasise the progress I’m making (130,000+ words in 12 months), not stressing over anything else. Let’s keep doing it.