Tomorrow I turn over a

Tomorrow I turn over a new leaf, by doing what I'm calling "lose weight/gain a book." (LoWeGaBoWriMo?)

I'm working on a few book deals right now, but the first one starts in earnest tomorrow morning. I have a chapter in an upcoming usability title due in a few weeks, and to force myself to unload all the ideas in my head I'm sticking to a schedule. When I wake up, I'm going running, showering, then writing for two hours every morning until the 50 pages are done.

Although I'm not a morning person, it's when I can get the most work done. Getting the painful time out of the way early was key, I've tech edited a couple books, which I used to put off until the end of the day. Cursing my keyboard at 2am, wanting to go to sleep but being forced to meet deadlines wasn't the way to do it, so I'm going with the morning schedule. The running part is another little thing I need to force myself to do. I used to run 5-8 miles a day in college and this upcoming march will be five years since I completed my first (and only) marathon. Although the marathon was painful and I wouldn't do it ever again, I used to enjoy 10k and half marathon races on a fairly regular basis. I've run a couple times a week for the past month, and I think it's time to get serious.

I have a good feeling this schedule will work for me, it'll allow me time to relax in the evenings, give me time in the afternoons to complete the freelance work I'm doing, and get me into a rhythm I can hopefully put to use on my other book projects.