This has been a crazily productive week, and I proved to myself that I do have time for the things I tend to put off.

For one thing, I’ve written about 4,000 words a day every day this week. That’s around the peak pace when I’m really on a roll, but I haven’t managed to sustain that pace for a long time.

But while I was doing that, I also got my house in order and took care of a lot of projects. I love having a neat house, but I hate housework and I always feel like I don’t have the time for it. I get busy and things get out of control, so it feels overwhelming, so I can’t get started and it gets more out of control. Since I’m near the end of a book, I kept saying I’d deal with it when I finished the book, but then it was distracting so I didn’t get as much work done as I’d like.

This week, I decided to do alternating sprints. I’d write a thousand words, then take a break to work around the house. I started with something easy, getting my bedroom tidied. That just involved putting away the clothes that had piled up on the Chair of Doom, then dusting and running a Swiffer over the floor. I got all that done during one break. Energized by that progress, I wrote another thousand words and then tidied the office. I also got a good start on cleaning the kitchen while I made tea during an afternoon break between writing sessions. By the end of the day, the kitchen was mostly clean and my bedroom and office were in order, and I had 4,000 words.

The next day, I started on the living room on my breaks. I sorted out the work stuff that had ended up in what I call my writing nest on the sofa, where I’d been doing brainstorming. I also got the coffee table cleared off, and then I finished cleaning the kitchen. I still got 4,000 words done.

Wednesday, I vacuumed the sofa and flipped the cushions for better wear and got the coffee table totally cleaned. I ran some errands and got a big basket/tote for the living room to put all the throws in when I’m not using them so they don’t take over the living room. And 4,000 words.

Thursday, I vacuumed the rugs, cut the grass in the front lawn, and did a lot of weeding. And I still got 4,000 words written. It was good to have a nice, clean living room to collapse in that evening.

Today’s a busy day, as I had a grocery run, then it’s chamber music day and I have a Zoom meeting, so I don’t know how many words I’ll write. I’ve hit the end of my targeted first draft word count for this book, but I haven’t yet finished the story. I normally come in lower on the word count in the first draft and then flesh it out in the second draft, but I may be trimming a lot in the second draft. I’ll probably have to cut a lot of talking and eating scenes. I wrote a lot of conversations that I think were more about the characters telling me things about themselves than about the actual story. I can use this knowledge to shape the characters, but the scenes don’t have to be in the book.

Maybe I’ll finish it next week. I don’t know if I can sustain my current productivity pace, but I still need to organize the spare room and the basement.