C.A. Watson's Blog, page 5

Convent Rules-That I'm Making Up As I Go Along

So, convents are known for being regimented places and this is what I mean by entering a convent. I have a fuzzy sort of flow to my day, but for these three weeks, my time will be very structured. Here is what I’ve figured out so far.

-I wake up at 8 am and go to bed at 11 pm everyday
-I will spend the first five minutes of each day meditating
The rest of my morning will go as follows:
-complete my 1000 word daily word count goal
-take a 20 minute walk
-eat breakfast
-get dressed for the rest of the day
-type up what I wrote that morning
-have a small snack
-do my morning e-mail check, send my editor chapter and do my luminosity games
Before I go to bed each night I will have completed the following:
-revising the previous days work
-marketing my current book
-read Proust (a long held reading challenge that I will finally begin)
-complete online classes that are research for book
-take a second walk
-create and send out greeting card ideas
-may run one errand
-blog about day
In addition I may add one of these: working on my visual journal or counted cross stitch project for a different creative challenge:
-I will continue my process of working intently for 25 minutes with a 5 minute break where I get up and move
-The post office is NOT an errand (I am selling stuff on -Ebay and that is time sensitive)
-I can use the public library as a work space
My routine includes, as much as possible, established eating times. Breakfast will be around 10 am, morning snack at 11:30, lunch at 1 pm, another small snack between 3:30 & 4 pm and dinner at 7 pm
I will honor all previous non-convent activities. I have four and they are listed now so everyone knows these are my only off calendar ones
-July 7: Got into Tattered Cover to pick up tickets attend Chris Colfer’s reading of his book. My friend Rene NEEDS this, so I will help a sister out
-July 14: Have a girls night out with Rene and see our cutie pie read his book
-July 16: Take mom to the dentist so she doesn’t have to drive home
-July 17: Spend the day in Boulder finding “sites” for by book to take place
This starts July 5th and end July 25th
The experienced with be documented
I will spend at least 1 walk and 1 hour outside each day
I will track my food and go to Weight Watchers meetings during this process
Most of all NO DISTRACTIONS!
-No television-period (Netflix, movies, BlueRay, NOTHING)
-No E!, Twitter, games, Fandango, TV Guide or Facebook on my phone or tablet
-Music and podcasts are fine because I have specific, time sensitive pre-determined slots for them. Nothing outside of those is allowable.

This is all theory. I’m sure practice will alter a few things, but not much. I’ve been looking at retreat schedules and will look at ones for convents and make adjustments as we go. I will also probably have to do the same for this schedule, but I have made a serious start. Tomorrow, I’ll get to my goals.

I'm Going to a Convent

I want to say right off the bat, this was all Kate Bolick’s idea. If it goes wrong, well, blame her. Here’s the story. I read her book Spinster and there, in one of the last chapters, this idea came up. Unemployed after the magazine she worked for went bust, she was supposed to use this new free time to start working on the book she was always going to write. Instead of a book, however, she did some serious work on getting depressed. In the middle of this bleak time, one of her friend’s suggested that part of her problem was that, living in the city that doesn’t sleep was pulling serious time away from her writing without any real benefit. She order that Kate try an at-home convent, with herself as a sort of Mother Superior. Kate would be forbidden for three weeks to go to any social events, out on any dates, any brunches with friends, anything outside her house besides basic errands. She was commanded to use that time to focus on her book. Long story short, Kate couldn’t stay in the convent. She broke out after two weeks. A period of time, but the way, that she spent trying to find loopholes in the rules. She was not ready to enter the convent. The thing is, I am.

I want to finish my second book and get up onto Amazon by the end of August. I am not set to work in July and I need to save money. I have supportive parents who have agreed to help out in the food department. All in all, this is the best time to enter a convent-an artist convent. Now, any religious order tells those who come seeking entry to think long and hard before making this commitment. It is a serious one. One meant to last a lifetime. Me, I’m just going in for three weeks, but I take the commitment very seriously. I’m planning my days to be regimented, just like in convent or monastery. I’m working out my menu. I’m creating a set of rules and defining my goals for this in specific and tangible terms. I’m going to spend the next few posts explaining my thinking on all of this. I will also blog about this experience. We’ll see what happens. Whatever does, just know, I’ll beat Kate Bolick’s measly two weeks!

Free Day

Hey all!

I just wanted to let you know that today How To Survive A Minor Alien Invasion is free on Kindle. I will have more to say in the future, but for now, that's it.