Tuesday, October 1

Yesterday, Monday, September 30th, I woke up really early (about 3am) and realized it was the deadline for the paper proposal I had begun work on doing the Mindful Writing workshop. So I guess I wasn't really crashing on the deadline because I had the benefit of my notes that I had compiled from several writing sessions.  It still took me about two hours to complete the 300 word abstract.

Today, I worked on revising a poem, less time, but at least 15 minutes.

Friday, September 27

Yesterday I wrote for 15 minutes. Today, I've managed a 30 minute writing block. I've now got a full draft of the introduction (the last piece necessary before submitting the final copy to the press!). The next writing block will consist of making sure I don't have any more pieces to move around or cut from the new paragraphs I've written. 

Friday, September 27

I wrote for about 1 1/2 hours this morning on an article for my GRA position.  I took breaks after 15 minutes.  The first part of the time, I went back in the data to reorganize my thoughts and decide what to write.  The last part, I did the actual writing.  It went well!  I finished that portion of the draft!  I wrote earlier in the week too on my comps.  However, I just now got the blog to work for me.  It had gone to my spam.  Even after I clicked it wasn't spam, it continued to not like it.  Today must be my lucky day.  I THINK my computer is finally "letting" me use the blog.

Jenny

Thursday, September 26

I sat down for my weekly writing session 30 minutes ago but was delayed by my attempts to get logged on to the blog.  ugh!  It's not that I didn't write on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I've been plenty busy with writing comments on student and class mates poems and in writing business correspondence but none of this counts as focused writing of my work.  In the next 90 minutes I plan to reread notes I have made on Malika Booker's "The Pepper Seed," and Warsan Shire's "teaching my mother how to give birth."  I will also edit my poem, "Director's Rule."  If there is time, I will outline blog essay.

Okay...today I managed to get a 30 minute writing block in. As soon as I sat down to write, my baby needed to eat, of course! I went back into my home office when he was finished, and before I began writing, I started with a 7-minute mindfulness meditation from that website that Donna sent. I found it helpful in centering myself before I started. I then went about writing for 10 minutes each time, stopping to breathe and relax for a minute or so in between. 

I'm working on the very last few paragraphs of the introduction to my book, Chronic Youth: Disability, Sexuality, and U.S. Media Cultures of rehabilitation. I find myself going over things that I did last time rather than writing new material, partly because I don't trust that 30 minutes is enough time to get new stuff done. When I finished the 30 minute block, I highlighted the things that needed attention and wrote some notes into my draft of things to do next time. Hopefully, this will help me not just go back and tweak things rather than generate new writing. 

Again, it was really hard to stop at the end of the 30 minutes. But now, I'm going to make some soup and see if I can get in another block. If not, I'll start again tomorrow morning.

I think, though, that I'm going to need to establish more of a schedule in which I leave the house to write. I thrive with a bit of a ritual, and this way, I won't be interrupted by babies or loudly playing dogs! Good luck, everybody :-).

Wed. Sept. 25th

Hey all,

I said Monday I would do it. Then tuesday happened and still nothing.

On to Wednesday! I made this my first priority today! I got myself a cup of coffee did some stretches and got to work. I fought the urge to surf facebook/huffngtonpost when I hit a point in the writing where I was unsure of what to say next. I was nice to myself, but allowed my self to write "I don't know," and then go on to make my next point or so. I found it was easy to go back and fix the "I don't knows" if I just went a bit farther.

I'm beginning to see this bad "web surfing" habit that I have when I get bored or feel stuck... not good! So I'm practicing a few things 1) STOP then, 2) take a deep breath and look out the window/close my eyes and take a sip of coffee. Also, I tend to write while my roommate is writing. I set a timer. We weren't allowed to ask "does this sentence make sense?" until it went off. When it went off (Every 10 min) we stopped, stretched, and discussed unclear sentences. Seemed to work well :) And she's practicing mindfulness whether she wants to or not! haha

Also, I found an app to block facebook and all tempting sites if need be. I hope I can get some self control or I'm downloading it!! This app is serious! Once it's set. It is set. No access!! Even if you restart your computer!  I'm a mac user so here it is-

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/31289/selfcontrol

Given it takes 21 days to break a habit, I'm going to go easy on myself until then BUT I have given myself a warning! Don't make me do it!

Kristen

Tues., Sept. 24

Greetings, all!

I thought maybe I should report on my BDS process, too?

I just wrote for 30 minutes, pausing at 10 minute intervals. When I stopped after 30 minutes, I stood up before moving on to email. It just occurred to me that I might do well to bring a little more of a mindful process to email. Hmmm.

I was taking notes on the concept of "service," working on a talk that I'll be giving at Florida State in a few weeks.