Writing Day

I am infinitely blessed to be able to take a day a week to write. I usually use it to catch up on what I'm working on (right now the second draft of my novel) as well as write down ideas for blog posts and get my head straightened out with writing and thinking and life.

I used to flail when I was handed this one day of focus. How to switch gears from Mama to writer?

One thing that has helped me is removing choices.

I go to the very same restaurant in the morning. It's on the cliffs, on the north side of the beach, where no one knows me and no one talks to me. There is no WiFi. I order a small pot of chai. I get the words down, sometimes alternating between writing and reading, and I try to write a couple thousand words.

I come home for lunch, take the afternoon to plan, write more, fiddle with the blog if it needs fiddling with. I know that if I wake up and think, "Where should I go today?" it will lead to confusion and procrastination, which leads to panic, which leads to feeling very unproductive in the evenings. Likewise, if I get on the internet first, my energy is depleted before I get the words out.

It's what has worked, and I'm glad for it.

However, I'm covered in a rash from a fuzzy caterpillar that was attached to me yesterday. Its fuzzy little hairs stuck into me and I can't stop scratching. There's nothing like poisonous caterpillar hairs to throw off your concentration.

Also, the ants are trying to carry my spinach seeds away, the little wretches. I catch spinach seeds walking across the garden bed with ants trying to act invisible underneath. Does anyone know any good non-chemical fixes for ants? (They're the biting kind.)