Things I have learned so far this month*

1. Writing makes me happy.
2. Taking photos of parrots makes me happy too.
3. I like to be happy.
4. It is hard to choose just one picture when you are taking 45 photos of parrots a day.
5. I can write 2000 words in a morning and still have time to do other work.
6. If I have written 2000 words in a morning, I feel justified slacking off and not doing other work.
7. Part of the reason I have been paralysed with procrastination the last few months is that, when I tried to write something, it reminded me of how much more research I needed to do, and when I tried to do extra research, I felt guilty for not writing.
8. Writing makes me feel like I am making progress. Research allows me to actually make progress.
9. Writing can be fast. Research is slow.
10. How come it took me three months to realise that the solution to (7), (8) and (9) was to do both writing and research every day?
11. Writing takes less time than you expect. Good writing takes more time than you expect.
12. See (1) and (2). I can't emphasise these points enough.
13. I think I could spend my entire life writing and taking photos of parrots. Does someone want to give me a job as a wildlife journalist?

________
* Courtesy of InaDWriMo and NaBloPoMo.