The intended Saturday schedule:
7:00 a.m.: Wake up, walk the dogs
7:30 a.m.: Write at the local coffee shop
10:00 a.m.: Drive to the library and run errands
12:00 p.m.: Home for lunch
1:00 p.m.: Moar writing
3:00 p.m.: Check out Pride and the pool
5:00 p.m.: Dinner
7:00 p.m.: PM Writing
9:00 p.m.: Unwind for the night
I originally meant to hold my writing challenge on Saturday; my life had other plans.
I did get to the coffee shop Saturday morning, but I was distracted by some admin tasks, so my word count when I got home was 0 words written.
I did run my errands, but I also threw my schedule off by playing Earthbound on my Switch.
And then I went to Pride.
I intended to go to Pride for an hour (at most) and then head to the pool. Instead, I got to Pride late and stayed from 4 p.m. until around 7:30. Then, I went to grab burgers with my friends because they were getting food with Heather Mae, the headliner, and if I’ve learned anything from living in Appleton for the past few years, if you have the opportunity to get food with Heather Mae while she’s in town, you do it.
The company was lovely, I got to squee about books with my friend Brian for hours, and I went to bed well past my bedtime early Sunday morning.
Fortunately, one of the highlights of my weekends is that I have Saturday AND Sunday off, so I moved my retreat over to Sunday.
I have two major takeaways:
1. I should learn to be happy with my current output because I’m balancing a high-pressure job with a hobby that is not unlike a second job in the amount of brain power it takes.
2. A stay at home retreat is not as good as a leave your home retreat.
I got to the coffee shop around 7:30 and was there until it filled up with people. I got 1,000+ words of a short story written, finished the story, and started a rewrite.
I did some light cleaning instead of running errands; I was hoping to do some work out in the yard and get in some swimming, but it rained pretty much all day. The dogs did not want to walk in the rain, so I also didn’t get a walk in.
I did some cooking for meals, putzed around the house a little, and played some more Earthbound.
During my afternoon writing session, I got some drafting done in the sequel to my finished novella, Undead, Get to Work! This new novella is about zombies suffering under capitalism.
I also got some reading done today, from Chuck Wendig’s Gentle Writing Advice and Darkhearts by James Sutter. Darkhearts is a YA queer goth romance, so far very cute and fun to read.
For dinner I tried to make mashed kohlrabi, radishes, and potatoes, but it turned out hilariously bad in presentation (not super bad in taste) and some air fried ranch seasoned chicken thighs. I just wrapped up my PM writing session, which was more of a query session. I sent my novella out once again and planned out a scene for my contemporary queer fantasy romance (which is also about hilarious small town politics).
Now I’m winding down for the night, sitting on the porch and enjoying the rain while I write.
My stats for the day:
2,434 words written
My stats for the week:
5,220 words written
Conclusion: My “challenge” wasn’t all that different from a normal weekend writing day. I should probably look for something more out of the norm if I want to call these writing challenges.