Productive Thursday

7:30 a.m.: To be a writer, one has to write. Simply sitting down at the keyboard and letting it flow is the key.

Today the sun is shining and I am up and ready to write. Last night's talk to the Cape Cod Writers Center went well, and I feel inspired to put my ideas into action and do some writing. I am a writer, and that is the most important thing I can do. Today I will work on The Elements of Academic Writing.

After writing from 7:30 to 12:30 I also plan to go for a run and do some yoga and meditation and reading. This is going to be a good day.

12:15 p.m.: Yes! I had to take care of some other business, like sending out the weekly reminder for the Cape Sangha (www.capesangha.org ) in the early morning, but then I got to work. I wrote about half of Chapter 1 of The Elements of Academic Writing. My favorite part is the admonition that a lot and all right should always be written as two-word phrases. The biggest progress is that I now see how it is all going to come together. I have the raw material and the method; now I just need to chip away at it a little every day. I am off to a good start.

I had forgotten that I am teaching my Advanced Reporting class for Suffolk University this afternoon. Fortunately I am all prepared. I still have time to go for a run at 12:30, to shower at 1:30, to leave for the college at 2, and to teach my class at 3:30.

I'm going to try the same three-mile route, and try to improve on my 40-minute time from Tuesday.

9 p.m.: Yes, I did improve my time a little bit, but it wasn't very comfortable. Then I showered, did some laundry and got into campus in time for my 3:30 class. There were only six students, and they are all old friends who have taken many of my classes before.

I feel good about today: I wrote, ran, taught and even had a nice dinner with a friend in the evening. Life is good.