Fitting It All In - Part II

It's been almost two weeks since I wrote about trying to fit it all in and I thought I'd give a little update on what my progress has been.

Obvious to anyone who follows my blog, I haven't yet managed to fit writing three to four blog entries a week into my schedule. Last week I managed only one blog entry, and I was thrilled I'd managed even that. This week my goal is two entries! This is one and I intend to write a second on my bus ride into the city on Tuesday. I said it here -- so now I have to do it!

As for my novel, I haven't written a single word. I'd say its probably been over a month now since the last time I worked on my novel. I do intend to change that this week. My goal is very modest -- I'd like to finish the week having written at least 500 words. Even if I only write 100 a day, I should reach my goal.

I have, however, been pushing up my wake-up time. But what I've been doing with the extra time has not been the writing I had originally planned for. Instead, I've been exercising. Each day I've gotten up a little bit earlier and each day I've exercised on my elliptical a little bit more. I've finally reached my daily goal (40 minutes every morning) so now as I continue to get up a little bit earlier each morning, the extra time can finally go to writing. It won't be as much as I had wanted but it will be something, and I'll be feeling healthier, which I believe will contribute to better writing in both my personal and professional pursuits.

Although I'm not there yet, I refuse to feel discouraged. Each day I am making progress in the direction I want to be going. Eventually that progress will once again include working on my novel, but no matter what I'm moving in the right direction. How can I feel discouraged about that?

Two weeks from now, I will again post about my progress. Between now and then I pledge to have written at least three more blog entries and begun working on my novel again. You can hold me to it.