Sitting in My Room, Something to Do Soon

 

A while ago, I decided I needed more discipline in my life. Not the fun, tie-me-up-and-spank-me kind, but the serious, I-need-to-get-me-act-together kind. Since I started writing full time, I've relished the fact that I can work in my pajamas or sit on my couch to write smut and no one can say anything to me. But, as things have progressed, I found my productivity slipping and my ass staying glued to the couch for hours at a time, being distracted by Maury reruns. (You ARE the father!) Life in general also got distracting, as we've been trying to get our house prepared to sell. Painting, organizing, plus purging 10 years of crap from the closets and cleaning like we've never cleaned before have taken up a lot of my time. As the days slipped by with no words written, I knew something had to be done.

Hence, a room of my own. The room pictured above, affectionately known as the Green Room (the color it used to be before the beige-ification of our house in preparation for sale) was always just a spare room. A place to keep my books and records and for guests to crash. But, I decided it needed to be more. Like a real office. Which is what is has become (well it's a real office to me). Between the hours of 12pm & 5pm every week day without exception, with some weekend hours thrown in when the mood strikes, I'm writing in that room. Now, if I want a snack or a drink, I'm forced to descend and then climb the stairs, my sneaky way of getting my butt up every hour. My only distraction now is my own procrastination, which I fear will take longer to conquer. But, I had to start somewhere.

Then, I took things a step further. I am now getting my ass out of bed at 8:30am instead of my usual 10am, so I can work out before I write my smut. I've also set myself daily goals, in order to keep myself on track and I've limited my access to the interwebs, which is a HUGE time suck. I've got it all plotted out in writing, right down to the gold star stickers I give myself when I accomplish it all (no joke on the stickers. It works just as well as it did when I was a kid!)

My first week of this experiment has tripled my productivity and helped me lose three pounds. So, I'd call it a success. Discipline is no longer a dirty word in my life, although I still don't put on real clothes to work. Hey, you've got to have some compromise in life.
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