Rules for My First-Ever "Writecation"

It’s a long story, but in a nutshell, getting a puppy in August changed a week in Mexico over Thanksgiving to a nine-day “writecation.” (That’s a staycation where you stay home and write.) And it starts tomorrow! The timing is perfect, as this year I am participating in National Novel Writing Month in order to finish my novel, Spring. Given that there are so many temptations around the house—books that have to be read, closets that need reorganizing—you get the idea, I decided to develop some writecation rules for myself. Here they are:

1. Don’t work your day job. (Actually, I’ve already broken this one as I have two conference calls scheduled. But they’re short and require little more than my presence, so I’m not worried.)
2. Shoot for 8,000 words a day. Over the course of an eight-hour work day, that’s only 1,000 words an hour, which is totally doable. And over the course of the nine days, that’s 72,000 words, enough to finish both the books I’m currently working on.
3. Don’t give in to the deliciousness of fine-tuning original material, over and over and over again. Forge ahead with the new stuff.
4. Exercise for at least thirty minutes every day. (This won’t be hard. Case in point, the puppy behind the whole writecation.)
5. Do something fun every day, other than writing.
6. Maintain a normal schedule. This means getting up on time, eating meals at mealtime, and getting a good night’s sleep. 
7. Get out of the house every day. I also work at home in my day job, so I know the perils of being cooped up day after day. 
8. When necessary, go to the public library to work. If the words aren’t coming and the closets are getting organized, it’s time for drastic measures and a change of scenery.
9. Take the time to make healthy meals.
10. Don't clean. :)

 

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