I've been meaning to blog more but unsurprisingly, NaNoWriMo 2023 has been taking all my time. As much as I love NaNo, I'll be glad when the month is over and I'm able to write without going to write-ins five days a week (yes, five! A Monday write-in was added). Even if I'm still spending time writing, it'll be when my schedule permits, and without the time spent on social distractions and commuting to the write-ins.
I'm pleased with my progress, though. I have managed to stay above par every single day all month, which is huge. I've never been able to do that before, not once in my 17 prior years of doing NaNoWriMo!
I knew last week would be a hot mess, what with the holiday week and all of the write-ins planned, including the big museum write-in on Friday. I only really had two goals for last week, staying at or ahead of par (which I accomplished) and working on organization (which I didn't). To be fair, though, I did say "whenever I have a chance," and I didn't have many chances. I'm hoping to make up for that this week.
There's another thing that may have changed things. I have been complaining to my doctor for probably a couple of years about feeling sluggish and unenergetic. Just this fall, the last time I was in, I was telling the doctor that I was also getting cold easily. I have Hashimoto's (hypothyroid) and I was worried that my thyroid was off, but every time they tested it, it was perfectly in range.
Then a friend posted on Facebook about a week or a little more ago about her daughter's thyroid struggles, and another friend mentioned that she'd found natural thyroid worked better for her than synthetic (which is what I'm on). So I started doing research, and in doing so, found out that taking levothyroxine first thing in the morning, 30 minutes before coffee or breakfast, is not necessarily the best time to take it. I found this study indicating that bedtime (at least 3 hours after dinner) may be a better time to take it, due to better digestion and less interference from food (30 minutes is apparently not long enough to wait).
So I switched my levothyroxine to bedtime, and I could feel the difference the very next day. I woke up easily, without grogginess or an army of alarms to drag me out of sleep, and that was amazing enough. I also felt like I'd slept better, and was more refreshed. The improvement in sleep and waking lasted all through the holiday weekend.
I feel like I have more consistent energy during the day, too, even though I'm getting tired earlier. I think before my espresso latte in the morning was delaying absorption of the levothyroxine until late in the day, and as a result I wasn't feeling energized until evening, which made it hard to go to sleep... and then I was severely lacking in energy in the morning, and unable to get out of bed as a result.
Time will tell as to whether this really improves my energy and motivation throughout the day, but so far I feel great. We'll see how this week goes.
My goals for the week are ambitious, as I'm assuming I will have more energy and motivation, but they also reflect that NaNoWriMo isn't actually over until after Thursday. With four more write-ins to go to, a TGIO party on Saturday, and a doll event on Sunday at the museum, things won't really be "normal" again until next week.
- Reach my NaNoWriMo goal and keep up the habit of writing daily
- Catch up on organizing
- Start getting some doll things ready to sell
I've also made a few decisions going forward. Following NaNoWriMo, I'm going to try to start working on my novel and other projects earlier in the day, rather than writing late at night like I used to. I'm hoping doing it earlier will help to ensure it gets done, and prevent me losing the habit like what happened last year. Also, I'd like to shift my overall schedule a little earlier, with the help of the bedtime levothyroxine, and make better use of my daytime hours. I have multiple ventures I'd like to start spending more time on, including finishing and self-publishing this book and the corresponding series, as well as my doll repair business.
Hopefully I'll have a good report next week!
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