Persephone Ponders Akrasia

This was not a good week in terms of waking up on time.  I hate to keep harping on the whole sleep thing, but SO much would fall into place if I could just get consistent about it. 

There's a term for what I go through every morning - "Akrasia".  (Or if you want to use my friend V's term for it - "dummy jacked".)

For those who didn't go to the link, Akrasia is the principle of us acting against our better judgment.  When you reach for the sweets late at night, knowing that you'll regret it later, or stay up past bedtime to watch another episode of TV, or to finish reading a book, or talk on the phone, or whatever distraction it happens to be - even though you know you'll then oversleep or feel tired and icky all the next day, and yet you do it anyway - that is akrasia.

When I'm awake, fully, 100% awake, I'm more likely to overcome some of these moments, but when the alarm goes off at 6:15am, and I'm 99.9% still asleep, and I know in the back of my mind that technically I can hit snooze a few times and technically still make it to work- that's when I get dummy jacked the hardest.

Forget the "perfect week".  I can't even seem to manage a perfect day.

Sadly, the more days I fail to get up on time, the more I beat myself up This is counter productive because it feeds into the talk that I somehow don't deserve this new life that I am working so hard to achieve during all the other waking hours of my day.

And it's hard to give myself credit for the stuff I'm doing right when I am so bothered by what it is I'm failing to do right. 

So forget the "perfect week".  I'm nowhere near ready for that.

This week - starting tomorrow through next Sunday - I just want to achieve one day of getting up on time.  Just one. 

Baby steps are sometimes the only steps you can take.

-Seph

The knowledge, it fills me. It is neat!

Hey folks. Abby here.

I went to a lit convention today, so I've decided to drop some literary knowledge up in here.

I was lucky enough to get loads of author signed shwag and listen to presentations by Nick Bruel, Shannon Hale, and Phillip Hoose.  My favorite part of the whole day was getting to listen to 4 of our amazing local authors;  Saundra Mitchell, Christine Johnson, Mike Mullin, and Julia Karr.  Saundra's success story is the kind of future I hope for all my young patrons.  She is just the inspiration I needed to cheer right up.

It's not a secret that Sephy is a writer, so I asked the rockin' authors for some resources and advice to aid her on her way to the NY Times bestseller list.
On Writing by Stephen King and Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott were both recommended as excellent books about the writing process.
I was informed that most books on the topic of getting published aren't very helpful, but critique groups are fabulous.  The following is a list of critique group, support, and networking websites recommended by my new friends the really awesome authors who I wish were my friends.

Websites for all authors:  Absolute Write, Figment, and Critique Circle.
Just for teens:  Inkpop and Pulse It.
Specifically for authors of children's books:  Verla Kay and The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Once you're ready to send out those query letters, Query Tracker is an excellent database of literary agents and publishers.

I leave you with a ridonkulus image* from Shannon Hale's presentation.  It was right after lunch and she felt we were a bit too sleepy.  She convinced over 100 librarians, media specialists, and educators to stand up and sing "the Princess Pat."

Awesomesauce

*An image that I forgot to attach and now realize it doesn't live up to the story as I told it.  The video does, though.  No, you can't see it.

Stop the roller coaster, I want to get off

Today has alternated between win and fail with enough intensity to give me whiplash.  Srsly, yo.  I'm not going to get into it, but suffice it to say I'm drained and it's after midnight and my medicine has worn off and I'm having trouble finishing sentences, let alone entire topics.  Also, my cat keeps biting my fingers.

I was planning to write about getting stuck in ruts and how things are cyclical and how to recognize that and fix it and so on.  Unfortunately I've tried to start it about 8 times now.  At the moment I can't really remember the point that pulls it all together.  It's nearly 1 AM and I have to bring my car into the shop at 7 AM.  That issue is one reason I haven't posted until now.  Also, I couldn't connect to the wifi at my sister's place.  In the past I would have sat here for another 2 hours desperately trying to remember what I wanted to say.  Then I'd have overslept and rushed to work without getting my car fixed.  This time I choose to do the responsible thing and go to bed.  It may not seem like much, but it's a pretty big step for me to put my needs first.  It doesn't happen often.

Sweet dreams,

Abby

Persephone says - Take Two

OK, so I started off the Perfect Challenge week fine, but then I got really sick, and sort of checked out of the universe for a few days to recover.

Because I didn't want to have to wait until Weds morning to make a second attempt, I decided to align my sleep tracking with everything else going on, which is Sunday - Saturday.

This means I started over this morning, and I'm happy to say I was successful at getting up.

Now to just keep it going throughout the week.

Wish me luck!

-Seph

Persephone Introduces - The "Perfect Week" Challenge

Since Abby gracefully agreed to take my Sunday spot last weekend, I am unceremoniously taking her Tuesday spot. Go me!

 So those of you who have been following along know that I have come to the conclusion that:

My day only works when I get up on time!

Since I don't remember the last day I ACTUALLY got up on time, I invented a game for myself that starts tomorrow morning.  *cue dramatic music*

THE PERFECT WEEK CHALLENGE!

1. Wake up with the FIRST alarm for 7 days in a row.  This means 6:15am on weekdays and 7:15am on weekends.

2. Track my sleep numbers to prove it.  (I do this anyway).

3. Submit my scanned sheet of successful awesomeness (<-- note my positive thinking) to my "accountability person" (normally my therapist, but she's on maternity leave).

4. REWARD MYSELF (TBD)

5. Wash, rinse, repeat for the next week.

****************************

Now, I don't plan to reward myself every week for doing this, but I will for the first week definitely, and if I can stretch it to two weeks I'll reward myself again, but by the end of three weeks I'm hoping it's just second nature and I'll stop having to bribe myself.

I am not going to talk about what happens if I don't make it through this "Perfect Week" challenge, because I can DO this!

(I can do this, right?)