Madison First

So after yesterday's post, I took a good look at why this book is taking me longer than I expect. I immediately scratched perfectionism off the list: these changes are large and important, not nitpicking over action verbs (the type of thing that I figure could be done to death, or at least done while the manuscript is in a few agents' hands). No, the culprit was life. Okay, maybe that's a bit broad. The culprit was how I've prioritized life. Usually, Madison comes last. After eating, work, socializing, and working out. Not intentionally, but I have chunks of time that are alone (read: perfect work and working out times) and chunks when I'm not (and eating is a priority no matter what). So today I did something that I used to do on a regular basis and fell out of the habit of doing several months ago: I put Madison first.

I actually combined Madison with breakfast, but the Madison hour lasted long after the food had been devoured. And it was a good thing, because today turned into another day I would have not worked on it. I would have found excuses why I couldn't (like that I wanted to read or surf the Internet or watch TV). Instead, I left work for last, and that has to be done, so I simply worked a little late.

This works better. I'm not as frustrated at the end of the day or feeling as guilty. I think I'll try to stick with it.