My daughter let me sleep in today, waking me up at 6:30 a.m. I’ve written before about her ongoing psychological experiment, and it looks like her efforts will continue this week.
She’s lucky she’s so cute.
It’s almost seven now. I’m on my first cup of coffee, going over my notes, and trying to figure out what I’ve accomplished since Wednesday. I don’t know if it’s the lack of caffeine or what, but it’s a struggle to remember much of anything. I know I blew off a whole day between Thursday and Friday, and Friday morning had me on the road for most of the morning.
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear I had a stroke last night. Am I this addicted to caffeine? Is it impossible for my neurons to fire at all without a few cups of coffee in my system? My God, I had to correct seven typos in that last sentence!
I’m getting another cup and grabbing a smoke before I write the rest of this update. Of course, then I’ll have to walk past the seven-year-old researcher in the living room. Is it better to tough it out in here, or do I risk confirming some sort of cruel success and encouraging her experimentation?
Screw it.
Alright, a fresh cup, my lungs blackened, and I’m ready to write about my goals.
This Site
According to the comments on my Wednesday check-in, following and commenting on other people’s blogs is the favored way to promote your own. I can see the logic in this, even though that sort of thing always strikes me as a little icky.
Let’s face it, I’m terrible at self-promotion; not because I don’t know what needs to be done, but because any time I do something which smacks of it, I feel dirty. If I don’t honestly have something to say about someone’s blog post, I just say nothing and move on. Given that, here’s my updated goal for this site:
- Post at least three times each week (still rocking this, by the way).
- Visit at least ten blogs each day.
I figure by reading this many blogs, there’s bound to be a few posts I’ll feel able to comment on.
Freelancing
When I look back at my goals, I see “write at least one freelance piece every day” glaring me in the face. With all the progress I’ve been making, I haven’t been hitting that number. It’s all been setup work until this point: reading, research, taking notes–so I gave myself a pass on hitting the metric I set.
I have to take that pass away, now. As fun and pressure-free as research and note-taking are, I need to start pushing things out the door. I know enough about what I need to do to pump out a 500 word piece every day, and I have enough venues taking my submissions to know every piece will go up somewhere.
And on that note, my coffee cup is empty again. My daughter has put her notebook away, her own research done for the moment. Tonight the two of us will be staying up late, possibly ordering a pizza, and having an awesome time. I know it’s all part of her plan though.
We’ll be up until midnight, then at five in the morning she’ll wake me up and the experiment will continue.
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I can’t imagine being at the mercy of a seven-year-old sleep-deprivation researcher. I feel your pain with the lack of caffeine, there are some days where if I don’t have an energy drink in the morning, there’s just no way I can function mentally. It’s good to know you’ll find a place for most of your submissions; it’s just a matter of walking that fine line between pushing yourself hard enough to keep the self-doubt at bay but not so hard that you burn yourself out. Good luck
Man oh man, I wish I could find that line. Right now, I have two settings: full-speed and “Why are you such a failure!?!”
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)
I get a woken up at 6:30am too, what is it with kids these days
My husband and I say all the time that our youngest is lucky he’s so cute. That boy his headed for stage and screen (funny typo I just corrected: stage and scream).
I hear you on the comments, but it really is about community and finding the blogs that work for you. I think you’ve found a pattern that works for you and I’d suggest sticking to it. Be true to you and all that.
Funny thing about our goals, sometimes it is harder to see progress. We move forward in small steps and before we know it we’ve moved a ton father than me ever thought we could jump. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Right. Have a great week.
I think my biggest issue is that I let myself get caught in the trap of doing too much intangible work. It’s hard to measure progress when you’re primarily reading, researching, and taking notes. With more things I can measure in the mix, the better I think I’ll do.
Either way, I don’t think slow and steady will ever describe my life. Individual projects? Sure. But as an approach to work in general? Not a chance.
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)
Jeff, I know just what you mean about coffee. I’m an addict; I can’t work without it. I went over that in my entry today (along with a couple of other things). It’s entry #24 if you’re curious.
Lara
There’s no way I could quit coffee at this point. I go more than three hours without a cup and I get a massive headache. Plus the words putting into sentence doing functions to cease.
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)
I thank the stars my son is older than my daughter and has mastered the making of breakfast. The only problem I still face is, “STOP IT!” “OW! YOU HIT ME!” “GIVE ME THE REMOTE!” But that’s not so much a problem anymore. I’m up anywhere from 6-7am since I quit smoking. When I was a smoker I slept until 9-10am if I could.
But I feel you on the self promotion thing. Visiting people I don’t know and dirtying their nice blogs with my ramblings. See, it is just ramblings! But, especially for ROW80, I feel I must or I’ll be no better than that spinster that gives away pennies at Halloween. Remember her? She was so happy “you” showed up, but in the end all she had was a crappy “return of favor.” I want to be the cool creepy lady. Erm…
Good luck with your goals! You can do the Freelancing!
LOL. Yeah, thankfully I have only one precious angel to contend with.
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)
I am a great one for thinking, researching, outlining but not actually, you know, writing! Guess it is all part of the process and some progress is still progress. I am staying with my sister and my nine week old nephew….I don’t know how you writers with children do it!
Good luck this week and I hope you manage the 500 words a day!
Em recently posted..ROW80 Check-in 12h August 2012
My daughter and I have a deal: she behaves, is relatively quiet, and gives me a couple of hours to work in the morning; after I’m done, she has me all to herself. My daughter often gets involved in solo projects during the day, so I sneak off to the computer during those times, or just sit in the same room and chat with her as I read.
That works fairly well, most of the time. I manage to get enough work done to silence my Inner Puritan, and my daughter and I have a lot of fun.
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)
Sometimes I’m so overwhelmed by all the blog post reading it’s hard to remember to try out new blogs, so I’m glad you commented on mine. It sent me over here to check out the “Jeff guy”.
Caffeine… Diet Coke is both my salvation and curse. I never got into coffee, but I can’t function without my DC. There’s something disturbing about a 40-year-old woman putting her finger up to her 3 kids to suggest they wait until Mommy finishes her morning drink. I might just need to work on that.
My “subitting freelance pieces” goal has suffered with my kids at home for the summer, but I’ll hit that hard again 8/27. Thanks for the reminder.
Hope you have an excellent ROW week.
Tia Bach recently posted..Themes & Symbolism: ROW80 Update
Well thanks for checking me out.
My seven-year-old daughter is well-trained. If she doesn’t see a cup of coffee in my hand, she knows to make me look at her before she speaks, and then she clearly–and very slowly–tells me what she wants.
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)
I’ve found this community of writers thing to be an encouraging and worthwhile use of my time. We have much in common, and it’s reassuring to know that other writers have the same struggles finding balance.
Be careful, Tia. Diet coke was (and still is) my drug of choice, but my kids will tell you that when I turned fifty–almost to the day–I woke up, smelled the coffee, and became an immediate addict
I resisted coffee’s allure through all those years of IT work and teaching, but I succumbed to its seductive aroma anyway.
Now, with a cup of coffee at my elbow and my favorite music playing, I’m ready to write. Have a great ROW80 week!
Kathrese McKee recently posted..Slow Curve Ahead
I love chatting with other writers. Mainly because people who don’t write, don’t ever seem to get what a torturous yet wonderful thing it is.
Mmm…coffee.
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)
Hi Jeff, thanks for stopping by my blog! I guess the secret to self-promotion is to actually avoid it: comment on the blog posts you like, forget about those you don’t like and little by little more people will visit your blog and become interested in your writing without you ever having to say “buy my book!”. Good luck with your goals this week
EM Castellan recently posted..Book of the Week – 13
That’s pretty much the secret I’ve stumbled upon. At least, the only way I can “do it” is by avoiding it completely. Reading more blogs will likely carry the side-effect of my commenting more, but it’s mainly just a solid way to meet more people working in the trenches.
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)
Hello! Nice to meet you!
So many new faces on ROW80 … I kinda get lost!
I try to veer away from coffee, because if I go for one mug, I’ll end up drinking 5 in not time.
I have a 5yo daughter and she likes to wake up early too. At least she sleeps through all night.
Have a great week!
Juliana Haygert recently posted..#ROW80 and NTS checkin 08/12
I keep waiting for this “it’s hard to get the kids up in the morning”-phase I’ve heard about, but so far it’s eluded me. If my daughter ever slept until seven, I’d bring her to the doctor and have her checked for mono.
Jeff recently posted..Putter, Putter, Type, Type (Sunday Check-In)