Practicing the BRSs

This week in Boice, we read about Brief Regular Sessions (BRSs). I'll admit that when I read chapters 3 and 11 on Saturday morning, I nodded my head in agreement, thinking yes, yes, I already know and practice this; get to the interesting stuff. However, now it's Sunday, and I've been up since 10am (yes, I like to sleep in on Sundays) working. That's 7 hours of working. For the most part, a 7 hour block of work doesn't really feel like BRSs. It seems like I'm doing the mad-dash to the finish line. I'm curious, though, if it could count, so I'm going to explore my day, so far, to try and decide whether I'm practicing BRSs or not. Bear with me as I bare my terrible habits to the blogopshere:

10:00--Wake up, freshen up, make tea, make smoothie, sort laundry, throw in laundry, sit down in office with tea and a few of my sources for the exploratory essay. Read source 1 and take double entry notes.

10:45--Get up, change laundry, make another cup of tea, return to office. Read source 2 and take double entry notes.

11:15--Write intro and first section of exploratory essay, using double entry notes to help me construct my narrative.

12:00--Get up, change and fold laundry, make another cup of tea, return to office. Write second section of exploratory essay, using double entry notes to help me construct my narrative.

12:45--Get up, begin to cook lunch, read for my English 8040 seminar while I cook, change laundry and fold, continue cooking, continue reading while cooking

2:00--Eat, chat about what I was reading with Max, brainstorm/chat ideas for my blog post for English 8040 seminar, change and fold laundry

2:45--Return to office, finish reading for English 8040 seminar, write blog post for English 8040 seminar

3:30--Get up, stretch, return to office, read source 3 for exploratory essay while taking double entry notes

4:00--Write third section and conclusion section of exploratory essay, and then send it to Max, asking kindly if he'll read and review it

5:00--Receive feedback, revise based on feedback, put essay away until later (probably Tuesday) revision

5:30--Pick up Boice book, look at marginal notes written while reading last Saturday, and then write blog post (which I'm still doing)

When I break it down this way, I think I might be practicing the BRSs that Boice talks about. I'm not really taking 15 minutes here and there, but I'm also not sitting down and working on one thing all day. I take breaks for real life (eating, laundry, chatting) and I pace myself with my projects, being sure to switch back and forth between them when I get bored or hit a block. I didn't really arrange a regular time, unless you consider Sunday my writing day. I do writing on other days, but this is the only day during the entire week that I don't have to get dressed up, showered, and teach. So, I usually get a lot of writing done, or at least the first drafts done, and then I revise throughout the week. Also, I do practice the "write in the same location" thing that Boice talks about. I've spent a large chunk of today sitting in my rocking chair, facing the window and listening to the rain. Somehow this helps. It's a lot better than sitting at my desk. I don't think there's one "right" place to write, though: I'll switch to the bed in a few hours and finish up there. And, finally, I do chart my progress. Most weekends, I make a list of everything that needs to get done before certain days the following week. I cross off and write stages of completion as I go. I think that's kind of like Boice's chart your progress idea. The difference? I don't really chart by page numbers: it's deceiving. I always write too much. Instead, I break up big projects into smaller chunks (reading chapters, writing sections, etc) so that I can check off a task when it's completed.

Anyone else experience what I call the mad-dash, only to realize you're actually practicing brief regular sessions?