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Time Management for Writers
Sunday, October 22nd, 2017 11:50 amI've been contemplating time management lately. Or rather, I've been thinking that I need to contemplate time management, but I don't have time to do it.
Finding time to write is always a challenge for writers. The only way I've ever found to get significant writing done is to make writing the top priority, and let everything else go. All right, except feeding the cats. But everything else. This works. It works really well, as far as the writing goes. Then one day you wake up and you can't get out of bed because of the mountain of laundry, and you're in serious danger of having to bulldoze the house due to all the minor repairs that have been left to turn into major problems, and everything around you is chaos sheathed in dust. And you have to start digging yourself out, and it takes far longer than just keeping up on it all would have in the first place.
So I've compromised by taking some days and declaring them Writing Days, where nothing else is allowed to claim priority. (Except, of course, the cats.) And other days are House Project Days, or Day Job days, or whatever. This works... less well, though it staggers along. I've never met a house project that didn't extend far beyond the time allotted. The nascent organization I've ended up in charge of doesn't demand much time, except when it suddenly does, and then it can eat days without even a burp. And so on. And suddenly it's been a week since I've had a Writing Day, and that's no way to get writing done.
And it's not just that. If I take a day for writing, is it for actual writing? Or is it for querying, or submitting short stories? The actual writing is inarguably vital to this whole being-a-writer thing. But querying's important too; it doesn't matter how finished the novel is if nobody ever sees it. The same goes for short stories. Researching markets is a huge time-sink, and researching agents can demolish hours in what feels like seconds; it's like web-surfing with justification to keep going.
So I've been trying to time-share days. I can only write for so long; when I've wrung the word-reservoir dry, I can work on that house project, or mow the lawn, or maybe even clean something. (Or maybe not.) But some house projects need an all-day commitment. Or I'll try to tuck the other thing in first, for the sense of accomplishment or to get it out of the way so it doesn't loom distractingly, and suddenly the day's gone and I haven't even turned on the laptop yet. The Day Job has its merits, but it's physically exhausting; not a lot's going to happen after I get home from work. (I try to squeeze exercising in before work, and it sort of works, but it's not the greatest combination with a demanding shift and I'm perpetually running late.) Querying and writing require very different mind-sets, and I find it extremely difficult to switch from one to the other in the same day. And splitting days up like that courts the constant feeling that whatever I'm doing, I should be doing something else.
And that's just the current load. There are things I'd really like to do, but the idea of taking on another obligation has about as much appeal as grabbing a hot stove element. I keep plotting ideas for starting a writers group. I'd really like to get back to regular martial arts training. But I Don't. Have. Time.
So I'm looking for time management suggestions, though I know going in that nothing's going to give me the ten days a week I feel like I need. And it's 2:30 in the morning as I type this, so I'm going to save it to post later and FFS get some sleep.
Finding time to write is always a challenge for writers. The only way I've ever found to get significant writing done is to make writing the top priority, and let everything else go. All right, except feeding the cats. But everything else. This works. It works really well, as far as the writing goes. Then one day you wake up and you can't get out of bed because of the mountain of laundry, and you're in serious danger of having to bulldoze the house due to all the minor repairs that have been left to turn into major problems, and everything around you is chaos sheathed in dust. And you have to start digging yourself out, and it takes far longer than just keeping up on it all would have in the first place.
So I've compromised by taking some days and declaring them Writing Days, where nothing else is allowed to claim priority. (Except, of course, the cats.) And other days are House Project Days, or Day Job days, or whatever. This works... less well, though it staggers along. I've never met a house project that didn't extend far beyond the time allotted. The nascent organization I've ended up in charge of doesn't demand much time, except when it suddenly does, and then it can eat days without even a burp. And so on. And suddenly it's been a week since I've had a Writing Day, and that's no way to get writing done.
And it's not just that. If I take a day for writing, is it for actual writing? Or is it for querying, or submitting short stories? The actual writing is inarguably vital to this whole being-a-writer thing. But querying's important too; it doesn't matter how finished the novel is if nobody ever sees it. The same goes for short stories. Researching markets is a huge time-sink, and researching agents can demolish hours in what feels like seconds; it's like web-surfing with justification to keep going.
So I've been trying to time-share days. I can only write for so long; when I've wrung the word-reservoir dry, I can work on that house project, or mow the lawn, or maybe even clean something. (Or maybe not.) But some house projects need an all-day commitment. Or I'll try to tuck the other thing in first, for the sense of accomplishment or to get it out of the way so it doesn't loom distractingly, and suddenly the day's gone and I haven't even turned on the laptop yet. The Day Job has its merits, but it's physically exhausting; not a lot's going to happen after I get home from work. (I try to squeeze exercising in before work, and it sort of works, but it's not the greatest combination with a demanding shift and I'm perpetually running late.) Querying and writing require very different mind-sets, and I find it extremely difficult to switch from one to the other in the same day. And splitting days up like that courts the constant feeling that whatever I'm doing, I should be doing something else.
And that's just the current load. There are things I'd really like to do, but the idea of taking on another obligation has about as much appeal as grabbing a hot stove element. I keep plotting ideas for starting a writers group. I'd really like to get back to regular martial arts training. But I Don't. Have. Time.
So I'm looking for time management suggestions, though I know going in that nothing's going to give me the ten days a week I feel like I need. And it's 2:30 in the morning as I type this, so I'm going to save it to post later and FFS get some sleep.
