Echoing A Recent Post of Mine...

Here is a good article I found that reiterates my point about making the time to write. Writing must be a priority (not necessarily THE priority, but a priority), or you will never get anywhere with it. Writers write. So many people don't seem to understand this. If we can sit in front of our TVs for 20+ minutes a day, we can find the time to write. Maybe instead of wasting so much of our time, we should manage it better.

Find Time to Write Your Novel
Finding the time to write your novel can be a challenge in today's always-on work environment. See how published novelist Jean Shields Fleming balances her creative life and her professional life--and how you can, too.
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In college, I would read books for pleasure or write in 5 or 10 minute chunks before or between classes. It wasn't a lot, but at least I accomplished something. And it really piles up over the course of a day, much less a week.

Stop the excuses. Just write. Even if it's "horrible," it's something. You can always rework it later, or throw it out altogether. Sometimes we just have to wade through the muck, the bad writing, before we can accomplish any good writing.

Really, that's the metaphor for a writer's whole career, really. Because there's always something more to improve.

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I Should Never Go Into Government...

...because I can't even run a household that well.

My husband has a new work schedule. It's very similar to his old schedule (which has crazy, weird hours), except that he works four days out of the week for ten hours, instead of five days out of the week for eight hours (this excludes the DJing he does on the weekends). This makes it harder to get things done, because we have to try to get our shopping, laundry, etc. all done on one day of the week (unless he happens to have the weekend open, but since it's busy season for DJing right now, that's unlikely). It also means I have to take up the slack on cooking again since he has to leave much earlier in the mornings.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind cooking. I really like it. Yet it's hard to try to fit cooking, dishes, writing, etc., into the evening when/if my baby decides to wake up every couple of hours, or if she won't go to sleep at her normal bedtime. On the whole, it makes life a little frustrating right now. More than a week went by where I didn't do any writing at all, really, and I started to get really tense and snappish because of it.

Ever know that feeling?

I did manage to do some writing last night. I really want to finish this short story soon, though. I feel like it's been dragging out long enough, due to my unpredictable writing schedule. I don't know how on earth I'll do Nanowrimo this year. I really don't.

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Time Management

I would really like to finish my short story soon. Yet I have been unable to manage more than a paragraph or two the last couple of nights, after my daughter goes to sleep "for the night." There are so many other things to do: cook, do dishes, shower, do yoga, etc. It's the only time of day that I have much time to accomplish anything. But I feel like I have to choose between several different activities every night, and since the family needs to eat and I desperately have to be clean or I get grumpy, writing doesn't always make the cut.

But now, as my daughter slumbers in her swing for a late afternoon nap, I have some extra time on hand to enjoy a cup of tea and think about how in the world I can find more time for everything. Or at least more time for writing, if possible. This made me wonder: how do different writers manage their time? Do many of you organize blocks of writing time into a strict schedule, or are you more casual about it? What are some techniques that you writers who are also parents use?

This subject has me thinking ahead to Nanowrimo in November, and I'm wondering how I can possibly finish and win it this year if things stay as they are now. I need a better system. I've considered keeping my notebook nearby as I play with my daughter throughout the day, and jotting things down here or there. Of course, this runs the risk of being interrupted a lot and losing some great stuff. It also gives me pause because I don't want it to become a habit. I don't want to be one of those mothers that is always focused on something else and never present in the moment with her kids.

I have a lot to think about.

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