{"id":361,"date":"2021-07-20T15:49:56","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T20:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arolnick.com\/hope\/?p=361"},"modified":"2021-08-05T10:14:14","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T15:14:14","slug":"40-days-of-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.arolnick.com\/hope\/2021\/07\/20\/40-days-of-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Days of Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today I complete 40 days of writing over the course of two calendar months, and I’ve managed to maintain discipline and consistency throughout this period of time, despite a couple of brief interruptions to my schedule of writing 500-800 words a day, five days a week. I reflected on the 10th day<\/a> that the real challenge at that point was generating interesting ideas, but I successfully got another 29 days of writing in before I got so stuck figuring out what I wanted to write about today that I decided I’d go back to being metacognitive about the process itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be fair, I have an handful of ideas sitting in a virtual ‘ideas’ document, but I know most of them will take some time to write, so I am putting off engaging with those ideas for a day where I have more time. Of course, I am on summer vacation right now, but I have been using my time exploring St Louis by biking around, taking care of walking and training the shelter dog we just adopted, cooking and baking, exercising, doing a lot of reading, and playing a couple of computer games on and off. Today I’ve done a lot, and just don’t feel I have it in me to do one of the deeper dives I had planned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I was working out earlier, I was listening to the latest episode of Ezra Klein’s podcast<\/a>, and he was interviewing Annie Murphy Paul’s The Extended Mind<\/em><\/a>. Side note: If you like interesting ideas and thoughtful interviews, check on the podcast! <\/em>One of the ideas she shares is that our computer model of the brain don’t accurately reflect how the brain evolved to function, and that trying to grit out a paper or finish intellectual work without engaging other areas of the brain, is actually less efficient than if we were to go out for a walk or spend some time meditating for example. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve noticed in my 40 days of writing that I am most productive when I write before 1 pm, and that after 1 pm my focus is diminished, regardless of whether I’ve walked, exercised, or meditated. Indeed today, having done both of the latter, I am still struggling to stay focused on this writing. However, to some extent, this lack of focus has been a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have told myself I’m not focused, and therefore I believe it. Likewise, my desire to finish the amazing book I have been reading (Children of Ruin<\/a>, another Klein recommendation), the handful of chores I have to get done (cleaning and cooking), and a phone call I have scheduled, have led me to this moment where I am feeling drawn in a number of different directions, unable to focus on my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that note, I am going to wrap this up. There’s not much point in writing when you don’t want to, and I am just about to reach 500 words. I feel like one of my students, trying to string together a last handful of ideas to reach a specific word limit set by an assignment. Success. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I complete 40 days of writing over the course of two calendar months, and I’ve managed to maintain discipline and consistency throughout this period of time, despite a couple of brief interruptions to my schedule of writing 500-800 words a day, five days a week. 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