On Schedule

Good morning! Happy Tuesday!

I’ve already been awake for hours and it’s only 9:00 AM. I love early mornings like this! I get so much accomplished.

Last week, I mentioned that I talked to a writing coach, who, in just 20 minutes, gave me some very helpful ideas to better streamline the process of writing a book. Some of you have contacted me about writing your own book, so I wanted to share some of her tips:

Spend at least an hour a day writing, no matter what
Carry a small notebook to jot down ideas that you want to include in the book
Imagine your readers as you write
Find support in someone who has written a book (i.e. Caitlin)
Remember that books are written word by word
Believe it can be done

So, I’ve been spending the early part of my day writing away– and I’ve actually had quite a bit of success. I’ve already written 6 short chapters– that’s 2 chapters a week! Not too shabby, right? I’m technically 2 chapters behind according to the schedule that I made for myself, but hopefully, I’ll catch up over the holidays.

I know that most of you are schedule people, so I thought you’d be curious as to what my new day looks like. Tuesday through Friday, this is my schedule:

5:01 AM: Wake up, immediately put on workout clothes
5:03 AM: Turn on space heater
5:05 AM: Check email
5:07 AM: Start writing
6:00 AM: Mal and Murphy wake up
6:05 AM: Take Murphy for a quick walk
6:25 AM: Return from walk and feed Murph
6:30 AM: Write for 30 more minutes, drink coffee
7:00 AM: Put Murphy in crate and go to gym
8:00 AM: Return from gym, take Murph out of crate
8:01 AM: Shower and get dressed
8:30 AM: Make breakfast, eat breakfast
9:00 AM: Blog about breakfast
9:30 AM: Drive to NuVal
10:00 AM: Start work at NuVal
3:00 PM: End work at NuVal and drove home
3:30 PM: Arrive home and take Murphy for a walk
4:00 PM: Return from walk and eat a snack
4:20 PM: Watch Ellen, clean, check email, start dinner post
5:00 PM: Feed Murphy and start making dinner
6:00 PM: Eat dinner
6:30 PM: Blog about dinner
7:00 PM: Do more work
8:00 PM: Relax/watch TV
9:00 PM: Go to bed

Pre-Workout Snack

My stomach was grumbling first thing this morning, so I made myself some toast with peanut butter while I worked on my book. My editor gave me feedback on 4 chapters, so I’ve got a lot of work to do!

A little while later, I put on a pot of coffee.

Workout

After about an hour of writing, I headed to the gym for a workout. I did 55 minutes on the elliptical while reading Real Simple and Self, followed by 3 sets of push-ups and crunches.

Breakfast

When I returned from the gym, I made breakfast. I pretty much finished off the jar of peanut butter when I made my toast early this morning, so I knew just how to utilize the mostly-empty jar.

Oats in a jar!

I threw some raisins and ground flaxseed meal into the mix.

Food for Thought Series

The Harvard Museum of Natural History is hosting a Food for Thought series in the coming weeks and I thought some of the local readers might be interested. For more information about these events, check out these descriptions.

Wednesday, January 27, 6:00 pm

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
Thursday, February 11, 6:00 pm

Where Our Food Comes From: The Origins of Agriculture
Tuesday, February 23, 6:00 pm

From Cooking Food to Cooking the Planet: Growing Constraints to Food Production

Question of the Day

What’s your morning schedule like? Is it consistent or does it change often?