I suspect every writer out there has had issues with time management at one point or another. I’m certainly not immune to the problem although, up to now, it has only been an occasional trouble.
I’ve always done my writing in between family, job, scout leader duties, soccer coach duties, church obligations and various fundraiser activities. Somehow, despite being busy, I was always able to get the writing done. Granted, some days I had to settle for 500 words instead of 2,000 but I was still making progress.
That changed on the 14th of November; I was laid off from my job. Suddenly I had ALL this free time to devote to writing. Except I’m struggling to get it done now.
What’s wrong with me?
I remember Mur Lafferty talking about when she was first laid off from her job. She was having trouble getting her writing done too (at least at first) so maybe I’m not such a noob after all.
I suspect part of the problem is getting used to the idea of being cast aside by a company I put a lot of myself into (at least, that’s what it feels like); I’ve got that whole self-pity thing going on :). On the other hand, because the time to write is not so difficult to find, I may not be trying as hard to make the time as I did in the past.
Whatever the reason, I’ve got projects to finish and several to start: there’s my novel rewrite to finish, critiques to do (on Critters), several short-story edits to complete and that whole podcasting thing I’ve wanted to get into. Oh yeah, and I’ve got a job to land too. There is no end of things to do.
That means I’ve got to make a real effort to get back into my writing. Should I try for morning or evening? Some people prefer to write first thing in the morning. Others like mid-day and still others enjoy writing at night. I know I can write in the morning and I know I can write at night. Perhaps I should shoot for a bit of both? I have several things to do during the day so if I schedule specific times I may have better luck.
Whatever my schedule ends up being, I need to stick to it closely until I’m back into the writing groove. If I don’t, chances are I’ll continue to flounder. If that happens, I’ll have a lot of empty days stretching out behind me and that would be a shame.
Personal Update
Finished NanoWriMo book last week. Now working on rewrite of fantasy novel. I’m very happy with the direction it’s going.
Planning out a podcast for Dragon Moon Press. It will be my first foray into podcasting and I want it to be just right.
Nothing back from either of my YA books.
Sorry to hear about the layoff. Hope you find something soon.
I work five days a week, 9-10 hours a day. I get 2 days off in a row, usually somewhere in the middle of the week. That’s 2 solid days to write and podcast. I look forward to those 2 days but when they come, I find I get easily distracted. I set aside some time to write but never get as much done as I want.
One thing that helps me is leaving my word processing program open all day on the project I am doing. That way when I sit down at my computer to do something other than write, I’ll find myself bringing it up anyway and banging something out.
By the end of the day I’ve usually surprised myself with a bigger word count than I expected.
It might not work for you but hey, if you’re like me, you’ll welcome any advice, tips or tricks you can get.
Thanks for the good mojo, James and thank you for the comments. That is a great idea and one I actually used during NanoWriMo. Not sure why it hasn’t occurred to me to do it in everyday too. And you are absolutely right, all advice, tips and tricks are welcome :).