Putting Writing First

Nov. 2, 2020

I almost forgot to write.

If I don't stream too late, I upload a copy of the stream the same night. When I'm tired, I save it for the morning. It's the only thing I do before writing.

Last night was a late one. I stopped at 10:45pm. With Evil Daylight Savings Time doing it's thing, my body-clock was still calibrated to an hour later. I barely remembered to hit the button to stop the stream, much less do the upload.

A pop-up with my email flashed during the stream . Not a huge deal. My email's already out there. But, I'd rather not push it further. So, I decided to edit the video before posting it. That's where the the morning routine went sideways.

The video was super choppy. I freaked out. It had been forever since I'd looked at the videos I'd uploaded. Not only did I have to figure out what was up with this one, they might all have been ruined.

A quick stop by YouTube and everything turned out to be okay there. With that relief, I started searching for a fix to the current video. While doing that, I came up with an idea for a tweet. I went to twitter and saw another tweet I wanted to respond to. Then I needed a new GIF for it... Before I knew it, I was in a combination of bug hunting, yak shaving, and unintentional procrastination. I'd completely forgotten to write.

I got up to grab a drink. That's when I remember I hadn't written. Since my brain was still in "Troubleshooting Choppy Video In Premiere" mode, my initial reaction was, "I'll finish the video, then write later." But, I know better. That's not how things go. If I don't write in the morning, there's a 100 to 1 chance I won't. So, I need to make an adjustment.

Here's a rundown of what I thought my mornings looked like:

Code

FIRST : Start The Day

    STEP 1.0 : Upload video if there is one

    STEP 2.0 : Write

Putting that down, I realized it's really more like this:

Code

FIRST : Start The Day

    STEP 1.0 : Check if a video needs uploading 

        IF IT DOES THEN : 

            ---
-- hr
-- hr
-

            STEP 1.1 : Rename the video file 

            STEP 1.2 : Enter the video name in the tracking spreadsheet 

            STEP 1.3 : Upload the video 

            STEP 1.4 : Write the YouTube description 
            
            STEP 1.5 : Get the YouTube video ID

            STEP 1.6 : Put the YouTube video ID in the tracking spreadsheet

            ---
-- hr
-- hr
-

    STEP 2.0 : Write

But, that's not the full story. It looks like this when editing comes into the mix:

Code

FIRST : Start The Day

    STEP 1.0 : Check if a video needs uploading 

        IF IT DOES THEN : 

            ---
-- hr
-- hr
-

            STEP 1.1 : Rename the video file 

            STEP 1.2 : Enter the video name in the tracking spreadsheet 

            STEP 1.3 : Check if the video needs editing?

                IF IT DOES THEN :

                    ---
-- hr
-- hr
-

                    STEP 1.3.1 : Make new Adobe Premiere project

                    STEP 1.3.2 : Edit the video

                    STEP 1.3.3 : Export the video 

                    STEP 1.3.4 : Make notes in tracking spreadsheet about edits

                    ---
-- hr
-- hr
-

            STEP 1.4 : Upload the video 

            STEP 1.5 : Write the YouTube description 
            
            STEP 1.6 : Get the YouTube video ID

            STEP 1.7 : Put the YouTube video ID in the tracking spreadsheet

            ---
-- hr
-- hr
-


    STEP 2.0 : Write

In my head, writing is the second thing I do each morning. Seeing this, I realize it's not. Best case, it's the seventh. Eleventh if I do an edit. And, that doesn't take into consideration the likelihood of getting distracted.

I wouldn't have realized how many steps there were without this post. That's one of the reasons writing is so import to me. I make discoveries in the process. It's a kind of therapy. Helping me make my way in the world.

That's why I'm going back to starting my day like this:

Code

FIRST : Start The Day

    STEP 1.0 : Write

    STEP 2.0 : Everything else