Time Management For Writers
The dream: you sit down in your beautiful office, your
favorite beverage of choice close to hand. Soft music plays in the background
and a scented candle fills the air with your favorite perfume. You open your
laptop and the words flow. You lose track of time as your story unfolds. Hours
later, you emerge from a trance, thrilled with the day's work.
The reality: you carve out a few hours to devote to writing
and just as you sit down to work, the school calls to inform you that your
child has the flu and is projectile vomiting in the office. The Fed-Ex man
arrives with a package, the cat delivers a dead mouse to the doorstep, your
mother calls, and you realize that if you don't do laundry right now you will
have to go naked for the rest of the week. And then your favorite episode of Castle is on and you really can't miss
it!
Finding time to write around the demands of family, home and
day jobs is a challenge every writer faces. After 17 years as a full-time
writer, I've developed a few tips and techniques to help you make the most of
the time you have to write.
1. Take Inventory.
Borrow a technique from successful dieters and spend a few days to a week
tracking your time. Write down what you do all day in 30 minute blocks. Analyze
the results and identify places where you're wasting time and vow to avoid
these traps in the future.
2. Eliminate and
delegate. Get rid of activities you can live without. Cut out the volunteer
job you hate. Give the kids or your husband a chore that will free you up for
writing time. Get rid of the clutter to make cleaning house easier or better
yet -- lower your standards for house cleaning.
3. Carve out writing
time. You've probably heard this one -- get up an hour earlier. Go to bed
an hour later. Give up watching one show each evening and use that time to
write instead.
4. Set a schedule
and keep it. When you commit to an exercise program, trainers advise you to
schedule a time and place to exercise and commit to doing it every day for at
least six weeks. Do the same with your writing.
5. Make your writing
portable. Carry a notebook with you everywhere. Write while your kids are
at sports practice. Write on your lunch hour at your day job. Write before and
after work, while you ride the bus on your commute, or anywhere you have a
block of 10 to 30 minutes. It's not the ideal fantasy, but you'll be surprised
at what you can accomplish.
I hope these tips will help you find more time to create the
great stories that are inside you, waiting to be written.
Cindi Myers is the
author of more than 50 novels, including The View From Here. Find out more at
www.CindiMyers.com
Great post, Cindi! I found since tracking my work on a great app called HoursTracker, I've had to change my work habits. I was wasting way too much time online. So #1 has been big for me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking out Be A Real Writer. I'm going to investigate HoursTracker. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the first step! I have been successful at weight loss -- even managing it until I decided to focus on other things. At present, I'm in the process of moving half-way across the country, finding a new home for me and my dog, and starting a new job. The sooner I get a new home, the sooner I feel like I can take stock of my time and see how to carve out that precious writing time. The ANALyst side of me will love going to work on this problem. Thanks for that great idea!
ReplyDeleteLOVE THAT FIRST STEP!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post, Cindi! Love all your steps, especially the first one. I think I've got a handle on time management, but lately haven't been too productive. Need to take stock.
ReplyDelete