When life gets in the way, what do you do?
First, let's be honest with ourselves. Is it Life that's in your way or are you in your own way?
Time management is the solution for writers who want to write.
I'll be the first to admit that this is not an easy task. We've put everything before ourselves for most of our lives, but it's time to step up to the plate and take what is ours.
I'm not saying neglect your family or your obligations. Writers must squeeze every moment of every day to move forward in the writing world.
Sure some are able to spend eight hours per day writing, but for the most part, we have to grab spare minutes when we can.
Take a week and keep a schedule of what you do and where you could squeeze in some writing. Large blocks are best but we can't all have that luxury.
How many hours did you sit in front of the television this week? What did you do while you waited at the doctor's office? How many minutes did you spend checking emails/surfing the web?
If you are like me, you will find there were many opportunities throughout the week to write, but you just didn't.
Let me know what you discover.
Let me know what you discover.
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8 comments:
I find that often if I turn the TV on, even when I'm just doing it for background noise, I lose my focus and sometimes just stop writing to watch TV. Listening to Pandora is a much better way for me to get writing done.
As far as squeezing in writing time - practice makes perfect! The more I do it, day by day, the better I get at fitting it in.
Janel, thanks for following. You're right, practice does make perfect. Nothing in my life is routine, so I struggle with finding a schedule. I guess my solution is no schedule at all, just sit down and get to writing.
Interesting post. For me I think it is both. Life/commitments get in the way, but I get in my own way because I seem to take on too much at times. I need to learn to say no sometimes or ask for help/delegate things so I have more time for writing. I'm really bad about sticking to schedules, so I need to work on that too.
Susanne, great to hear I'm not alone. I am doing much better than I was at the beginning of the year. I can't even imagine how some writers fit in 6 to 8 hours a day. Even on my days off from my regular job, I can't seem to pull that off.
I totally agree with this. I find that making a list of my writing goals at the start of the week helps me stay on track and the more accomplished I feel, the more productive I am.
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
Angela, Lists are good. I try not to put to much on my list. It's better to feel good about accomplishing a small amount and wonderful about accomplishing more than planned, than to go down in the dumps because you didn't get half of what you wanted done.
Very true. There are a lot of minutes (and perhaps adding up to hours) that go unaccounted for that could be used in more productive ways. I suppose being very organized can be a great way of compartmentalizing the chaos of creativity.
Thanks for the post--very useful.
Samuel, I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
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