Before I even start with today’s post, I need to mention a gem I forgot last night. That whole post about my workstation, happy as I am to have the desk and desktop set up, was written on my phone. If you’re feeling an overwhelming urge to roll your eyes about now, that’s probably a natural response to such a statement and it should be embraced. Go on. Roll them like someone just told a really awful joke.

This post is going to follow my writing and creative efforts of the day, with some degree of detail (with some omitted because I don’t want to bore anyone to death). That way I can focus on this, but focus more on the proofreading, writing, and submissions I need to get done today, as well as get a little cleaning done in preparation of Marceline (Or maybe Meowrceline? No, that’s just awful.) being brought home. In case I failed to mention it explicitly: there will soon be three cats wandering my house, which means the cats will outnumber humans. If I go missing for a great length of time, assume I’ve expired and the cats have made a meal of me.

Veering back on topic and away from whatever dark place that joke went, this post will also provide a great way for me to scold myself later for not being able to stay on task for more than ten minutes at a time (that’s a really generous estimate). Typed that last sentence while thinking how I could really benefit from a shower and some breakfast about now.

Prepare to be bored, probably. Or amused. Maybe a mix of those two things. Boredmused? Whatever.

Day Twenty-Three – This is what a day of me being productive looks like (more or less)

8a.m. – Woke up. Hated that I can’t sleep past this time unless I’m awake until at least 2 in the morning.

9a.m. – Stared at the ceiling until I realized I should probably get to work on the two pieces of writing I owe my full attention. Rolled out of bed, put on pants the sort that are acceptable for public wear), and booted up the GLADESKTOP. Checked various social media apps on my phone so as to get that out of my system.

9:05a.m. – Remembered that DIRECTV had inflicted extra channels on me not too long ago, and I would have to pay for said channels soon. Called to cancel those channels. Discovered I had accidentally dialed the wrong number and ended up talking to the people who handle equipment warranties. They weren’t very forgiving of this mistake and hung up on me.

9:15a.m. – DIRECTV concerns taken care of. Firefox is open, with such productive tabs as Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress. I’m obviously off to a great start.

9:15a.m. – 9:30a.m. – Got into a heated shouting match with Microsoft Word, because it apparently really doesn’t like letting me work on any one file for more than two minutes at a time before unceremoniously crashing.

9:30a.m. – 10:30a.m. – Focused on proofreading and critiquing Lindsey’s short story which has been referred to as “The Multi-Pug”. Felt immense self-loathing for not doing more creative writing. Breakfast (two slices of toast, one peanut butter and one with just butter) was prepared. Dropped the peanut butter toast only to discover it had somehow landed with the peanut butter side up. Briefly concerned I woke up in a parallel dimension where this was the norm. Pretty sure this isn’t a parallel dimension, but I’ll keep my eyes open for other indications.

10:30a.m. – Still proofreading/critiquing. Opened the Battle.net launcher, too, which was probably a terrible idea. Questioning if this post was a good idea or not. Probably not, but it’s already happening.

11:30a.m. – Finished proofreading and critiquing “The Multi-Pug”, and hated myself a little more for not doing much creative writing lately. Remembered that I have a veritable pantheon of stories lurking around in my brain. Some of those have drafts trapped on my laptop. Took to wondering when the hell the Geek Squad would be getting Thanatos back to me. Hopefully it doesn’t keep following its name-sake by dying, because that shit would get old really fast. Resolved to work on the short story about a Lich, even if I don’t remember his goddamn name.

11:30a.m. – 12:15p.m. – Brief diversion from proofreading in the form of searching for places accepting submissions.

12:15p.m. – 12:45p.m. – Diversion from the previous diversion in the form of updating my the drivers for my graphics card (god help me if I have another graphics card die within a month). Watched, with some level of intense frustration, as Firefox crashed twice. Thanked the Old Gods for WordPress autosaving drafts. More importantly, I also sent two short stories off for consideration in different publications. Not huge progress, but it’s progress all the same.

1p.m. – 1:20p.m. – Screwed around on LinkedIn, updating my Publications section and endorsing people. I remember my LinkedIn account occasionally, give it a fair bit of attention, and then move on.

1:35p.m. – 3:15p.m. – Proofreading and critiquing Lindsey’s work-in-progress novel.

…

And so on.

I’d keep going, but I feel like stopping here would be a bit of a mercy, anyway. I still need to get to my creative writing for the day, but I’d say today was a success in terms of meeting goals. Unless I somehow manage to botch the just-mentioned creative writing plans by not doing them before the day’s over. Short of actively sabotaging myself, I think I’ll be okay there.

Seventy-seven days remaining.