I totally forgot to even write this update until just now. The combination of frustration at the failure to deliver a bunch of stuff I ordered and the enthusiasm that infects me every time I get a new Pokemon game, I’m lucky I managed to write as much of my novel as I did yesterday. I got a full day’s worth in, thanks to a super productive half hour I spent at work, waiting for the weather to clear up a bit before driving home. I punched out and wrote over 1000 words. As a result, I’m actually considering doing my writing time every day right after I punch out at work to capitalize on the lack of distractions and the nagging feeling that I should be using my time productively.

Today, I’m off to a slow start. My packages arrived and I’ve been rather completely distracted once again. This time by Saga comics and, once again, new Pokemon. Today’s Pokemon distraction is a bit more logistical though, as I’ve begun the careful process of catching every Pokemon I can and evaluating their potential as team-Pokemon. It’s all very exciting. At least, its exciting if you like plotting data, doing research, and the different ways the strength of individual Pokemon is measured. I’m certain it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but data aggregation and application has always entertained me to some degree or another.

At this point, all my distractions have been set aside and now it’s time to get to work. Hopefully I can make good on my decision to catch up in a single weekend. D&D tomorrow night and time with the woman I’m seeing tonight indicate that it’ll be more difficult than originally anticipated. No regrets, though. I’ve got another weekend and four more vacation days I can use. Plenty of time.

Daily Prompt

Over-confidence comes in a couple different flavors. Previously, I suggested writing about over-confidence stemming from taking an ability of skill for granted. This time, write about someone using bluster and false confidence to conceal an inability of a self-perceived lack of skill. Show your character trying to cover up their lack of ability with bravado and hot air rather than admit that they are unable or show what they think is a weakness.

Sharing Inspiration

Today’s inspiration is actually Sudoku. Anyone, in this day and age, will tell you that the brain is like a muscle and, if you want it to be strong, you need to spend time working it out. A lot of people then follow this up by talking about reading or writing or using your creativity or imagination. The flip side that most people don’t talk about is that this also applies to the analytical and logical part of your brains as well. If you have nothing to do with numbers but spend all of your free time improving your vocabulary, you’re going to wind up with the mental equivalent of someone who keeps skipping leg day. Sudoku is one of my favorite ways to stretch a side of my brain that I don’t use a whole lot in my day-to-day life. The main focus is on logic puzzles, but it also helps with your ability to mentally hold something in place (as you track which numbers could be in each box) and your ability to distinguish individual numbers in large number sequences. The last one might not seem like much of a skill, but it definitely makes it a lot easier to parse through large sets of numbers.

Helpful Tips

Anyone can write a lot of words in an hour. If you take one of those writing tests, the online ones that measure how many words you can write in a minute, you should be able to do at least ten times that many words in an hour. Probably even more than that. The main barrier to not being able to write that much that quickly is that you need to figure out what to write first. If you’ve got a long time to put toward writing, you could plot out what you’re going to write that day, maybe one sentence per paragraph. That way, when you finally focus on just pumping out words, you can just fill in the gaps rather than worry about finding the right path forward. You’d be surprised at just how much faster you are, even after taking the time to plot it all out.