Time Management

May 01

Image courtesy of JFH's Flickr stream, http://www.flickr.com/photos/jhf/

Taking the big leap from guaranteed paycheck to unreliable money (a.k.a. full time writer) is not a leap to take lightly. But now that I’m engaged to an incredibly supportive man, that question has come up, and it’s not me who’s raised it.

The realities of a full time writer

Last weekend while on vacation the issue of quiting my job was raised, yet again. “If you want to be a writer, then write. You’ll never finish a book if you are working full time.” But I disagree.

Look at most writers. How many of them work full time jobs in addition to writing? A fair number. Now look at how many are able to sustain on a full time writer’s salary. You will only find a handful, and my hands are rather small.

In addition to the financial implications, you also have to think about the insurance issue. Sure, if you are married or, depending on the company, living with someone, you can go on their insurance. But for a lot of people, this isn’t an option. And think about signing a lease or trying to get a mortgage? Since I have a steady paycheck, I can’t say this for sure, but I’m betting a full time writer will run into more obstacles when attempting to arrange their living situation than someone working a traditional job.

Then there is the stress. For me, my financial situation creates a lot of anxiety. When I’m anxious, it’s really hard to write. So would not knowing where my next paycheck is coming from really make it easier for me to finish a book if I quit my job?

The lonely factor I could deal with – I prefer working with no distractions, and I’m also good at managing my time. I can make myself work regardless of whether I’m in an office or working from home, but the working environment are additional factors that have to be considered.

Before considering this leap, you have to look at yourself and be realistic. Writing may be the world to you, but if you can’t stomach the insecurity of not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from or how to afford insurance, if you thrive on being around people while at work, quiting your traditional job for writing might make things more difficult.

My course of Action

With all of that being said, I am not going to quit my job and give up the security of full-time pay. And here’s why.

I don’t know if I can get something published. Having never sold a book, or even gotten one to a publishable place, it seems a bit irresponsible for me to quit on a whim. Sure, it’s my dream. And sure, it’s something I’ve been doing my whole life, but being able to focus on writing if I’m stressed about my finances would be a stretch.

Instead of quiting, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing. I am able to find the time to work on my writing despite working a full-time job. I work long days so I get every other Friday off and I usually fit in a little bit of time even on the days I work. I also manage to find the time to make connections and read a ton. Even though my efforts may not always seem to be getting much results, I’m slowly working towards that final goal.

Who knows. Maybe when I get something signed I’ll rethink things. I may decide to scale back my hours or quit all together. But based off of what I’ve seen of the publishing world, based off of the royalty statements I used to send to authors when I worked in publishing, this is a decision I would not arrive at lightly. Because the reality is, writing is satisfying, but it rarely pays the bills.

The plan of action I’ve chosen won’t work for everyone. But it’s always useful when making these types of big decisions to see what other people decided and why.

Did you take the leap? Do you plan to in the near future? Or did you decide to keep doing what your doing? I’d love to hear how others deal with this.

Mar 30

Meditation is all about clearing the mind and focusing your thoughts. So does it have a place in a writer’s toolbox?

The other night I was having dinner with an acquaintance who spent the last 7 months traveling around the world. He was telling me about this 10-day meditation retreat he did in Tibet. And what he got from the retreat? He said it made him a better (faster) computer programmer because he learned how to focus his mind.

This got me thinking. When I sit down to write, I often find my mind wandering every which way. That’s the curse of our super connected, internet-crazed society. There’s so much going on you don’t know where to look. So would meditation help me to stay focused on my writing? Or would meditation actually be a hindrance?

When I write, I have to let my mind wander. That is part of the creative process. I wander in and out of the plot, pulling at bits that work and don’t work. But I also feel my mind drifting to things like what to make for dinner or how nice the sky looks today or what will happen next in that book I’m reading.

I’ve decided to try an experiment. For the next month, I will devote time every day to meditation. Originally I thought I would do it before falling asleep, but that’s when I do my best brainstorming. Instead I will do it after work – a nice way to calm me down. Of course, since I don’t really know how to meditate, this might be slow going and I may need more than a month. But a month seems pretty doable. Being as I am in the editing stage of my writing, the part I always dread, this might actually be the best time to give this experiment a try. What do you think? Do you use meditation to help your writing? Or do you think writers should have minds full of ideas circling all around competing for attention?

Feb 07

A few weeks ago I read in a woman’s magazine (not sure which one) that it takes 66 days to make something a habit. The article was talking more about dieting, or exercising, or flossing your teeth. But in reading it, I couldn’t help but wonder if writing couldn’t also be applied to this.

I know I’ve talked about 750words.com before. Since my last post on the subject, I’ve been using it a lot – I’ve entered almost 20,000 words into the site. And I’ve got to say, it’s growing on me.

Making Writing a Daily Habit

Since February is the shortest month of the year, I decided to join the 750words.com 1-month challenge, where I will write 750 words a day for the entire month. I figure if I succeed, I will have reached day 28 in the 66 days needed to form a habit. And once I’ve hit my 28th day, what’s to stop me from writing for 38 more days? And if I manage to do this, will I have succeeded in making writing a daily habit? I hope so.

So far I am on day 7. Not long, I know. But I already feel the need to sit down and get my writing done. And it really is surprising how fast it is to write 750 words. My best time, earning me the Speedy Typist badge, is 12 minutes, but I average closer to 15. In 15 minutes a day, I can write 750+ words. Not too shabby.

My 750 words are not stellar, I know this. But I’m still on the rough draft stage of my book (and I’m almost done). My only concern with the 1-month challenge is that I will finish my first draft before the month is over. But then, is this really a bad thing?

Do you think I can finish the challenge? Do you think I can turn daily writing into a habit? Have you turned daily writing into a habit? How do you fit your writing time in? Is 15 minutes a day enough time? Or do you need more time to write a first draft?

Jan 23

January is almost over, meaning we are about 1/12 of the way through 2011. And so far 2011 is shaping up to be a pretty busy year.

In 2011, I’m planning the following:

Reading 100 books (I joined the GoodReads group 100+ books in 2011. You should check it out. You should also check out Writer’s Block NZ Blog, where I learned about this GoodReads group)
Getting a submission worthy manuscript out the door
Running a 5k in April (meaning lots of training building up to it)

And then, of course, there’s going to work every day, my trip to Europe (on it as you read), moving to an apartment with a better view in March, participating in a wedding in May, regularly updating my blog, and all the other things that come with life.

So how to make time for my writing?

I work best under pressure. I’ve always been that way. The reason for this is that being overbooked (a.k.a. under pressure) forces me (and most people) to create schedules. If you know you only have x hours to do something, you find a way to get it done. And that is what I’ve been doing with my writing.

NaNoWriMo helped a lot, reminding me that I can write every day. And now that I am using 750words.com, I’ve found additional help in scheduling my writing time.

I look at writing time the same way I look at gym time. If you get into the habit of doing something at the same time everyday, it no longer seems like work. It becomes something you just do. Similar to making it to your 9-5 every day. If you treat writing like a job, which you need to do if you have dreams of being a professional writer, then you can find a way to schedule it in.

My schedule may be pretty booked. But a little organization and the creation of a routine can make all the difference between finding time to write your first book or spending your days talking about writing a book.

How do you make time for writing? Do you write every day? Do you write at a specific time of day? Do you sacrifice other things to fit in writing time?

Jan 03

Meeting a daily word count was easy during NaNoWriMo, or easier. Now that November is long gone, I’ll be the first to admit that my daily word counts are suffering.

Why is it easier to meet daily word counts during NaNoWriMo?

NaNo is only a month long. It’s easy to put your personal life aside for one month. Plus, there’s a score of other people also sacrificing their lives for the common goal of 1,667 words a day. But for me, the progress bar was what really helped. I didn’t want to miss a day and risk falling below the ‘where you should be’ line. And so I stayed up an extra hour, or spent my lunch hour writing, or skipped the gym here and there. And then November ended, and so did many of my sacrifices.

How to keep that momentum going?

Recently, I learned about an online program called 750words.com. What’s great about 750words.com is that, like NaNo, it tracks your daily word counts. Unlike NaNo, the daily goal is more realistic for every day writers – only 750 words. Additionally, you write directly into the program and the program tracks not only your word counts, but how quickly you reach your word count, the tone of your writing, common topics, commonly used words, etc. Not only are the stats fun, but knowing that I’m being timed keeps me from wandering to other websites or just plain wandering.

In keeping with the recent trends in mobile gaming, you can also earn badges for things like reaching your word count several days in a row or reaching your word counts in a timely fashion. Plus, there is a community surrounding the site, so you can follow other writers, like you would with NaNo. And every month offers members the chance to participate in a monthly challenge where you are challenged to reach your word goal every day of the month. Winners are added to the Wall of Amazingness whereas losers find themselves on the Wall of Shame and remain there until successfully winning a month challenge.

The one negative is that you have to write on the site. Whereas with NaNo you just entered in your new word count for the day, 750words determines your word count and typing speed based off of how much you write into the text box that is provided when you login for the day. You can always just copy and paste the text into your own word processor, or use the sites text exporter, but if you have a hard time focusing in an unfamiliar environment, this could pose a problem.

The site also archives your writing. While I have no problem with this and actually like the idea of having a backup sitting in cyberspace, I know this could makes some writers uncomfortable.

If you are looking for a way to get your writing momentum back, though, why not give 750words a try? The worst you’ll get out of it is an additional 750 words. The best you’ll get is a new time management/motivation tool. If you give it a try, or if you are already using 750words, what do you think of it as a writing tool?

Dec 12

Ok, I know. Weird topic for a writing blog. What does a Rumba have to do with anything? Wait for it though, it’s coming.

House cleaning is a time suck, especially vacuuming (loud groan at the thought). Now, I could just skip it altogether, but I live with a cat who likes to scatter litter from here to the North Pole. And he’s long-haired. And I’m long-haired. And I write from home. I think you’re getting the idea. Ignoring housework isn’t really an option.

So in comes the Rumba. As I type this blog post, the Rumba is in the living room doing my housework for me so I can write this blog post for you. Later when I head to the gym, the Rumba will go to town on the bedroom/office, meaning I can justify my gym time. If the place magically gets clean while I’m working out, it’s not like I sacrificed writing time. I actually saved writing time.

Now if they would come out with a pick my clothes up and put them in the laundry hamper/dresser drawers robot I’d be all set.

How do you make time for writing? Are there things you skimp on to give yourself some extra time?

Nov 16

We have reached the second half of November. And you know what that means besides turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and my mom’s birthday? It means that NaNoWriMo is half over!

The good news for me is that I am actually on schedule this year. Scratch that. I’m ahead of schedule. When I went to bed last night, I was at 34,365 words, well over halfway to 50,000. Of course, the bad news is that NaNo has made blogging a little more difficult. But that’s actually a good thing because there’s no point in building a platform if you’ve got nothing to show for it (i.e. a book).

I know that some of my 34,365 words are duds, destined to be erased, but isn’t that the nature of a first draft? To spew everything out of your head onto paper? At least that’s what NaNoWriMo is about. And so far, it’s working. By getting everything down, I am able to clear my head. I already know some of the bits that will get cut in my next draft, but in the spirit of NaNo, I’m not cutting yet. I’m going to finish my first draft and then we can talk about the second draft.

So why is it that I can suddenly get my story down?

Part of it is discipline. The discipline of NaNo is something I’m benefiting from and something I’m hoping to be able to take with me into the coming months. I think the other part of it is keeping my focusing, working hard to get my story down in full before it starts slipping away, before I start losing momentum. With my other work-in-progress, I dragged it out, allowing doubt to seep in.

The other part of it was my planning. While I’ve deviated from the outline in some aspects, the general outline has not changed. I know where my story is going and how to get there. I think this is key.

How are you doing with the NaNoWriMo challenge? Are you on track? What’s working for you and what isn’t? And, if you haven’t donated to NaNo this year, what are you waiting for?

Nov 02

My original plan for today’s post was to continue with my website redesign series. But I’ve decided to push that off until later in the week. Instead, I’m going to continue writing about NaNoWriMo.

And so it begins

As many of you know, National Novel Writing Month is officially upon us. In celebration, I took the day off from work. In my humble opinion, it really should be a national holiday, but so far I have been unable to convince any of the higher ups.

I’ve got to say, taking the day off was a great idea. And no, it wasn’t great because I didn’t have to go to work or because I was able to stay in my PJs all day and sleep in until 8 (I’m usually up at 6, so 8 is a big deal). Naturally those things contributed to the greatness of today, but the true greatness stems from what NaNoWriMo taught me about myself.

Failures of Years Past

This is my 4th year participating. The first year I jumped into a brilliant story idea only to change my mind 50 pages in. I then threw myself into the next brilliant idea, writing an additional 50 pages. Only to realize that the execution was far from brilliant. In short, I failed.

Year 2 I decided to use NaNo to push myself to finish my book, which was my story from year 1 fully resuscitated and fixed up through the help of tons of plastic surgery and duct tape. Again, I failed.

Year 3 I may as well not have participated. Not only was I extremely ill, but I attended a wedding in Thailand halfway through November. Needless to say I didn’t even come close to completing the challenge.

NaNoWriMo – Finding Your Zen

This year, my 4th year, is the first year I have gone into NaNo with a solid plan. And today I saw the benefit of this. Because I was not distracted trying to think up a plan on the fly, I was able to really focus on the writing. I also learned some things about myself.

1. NaNoWriMo teaches discipline

Ok, in a perfect world we could teach ourselves discipline. But NaNoWriMo gives that finally push to those of us struggling with the whole discipline thing. Through the act of participating in NaNo, I am able to see that I can be a disciplined writer. I can sit at my computer and write on command. I can reach daily word goals. Today, I saw that discipline in action and it was the most productive I’ve felt in a long time.

2. NaNoWriMo reinforces a schedule

Since finishing school, I’ve found it difficult to properly organize my personal life. I spend all day at work organizing my time. By the time I get home, I’m exhausted. I don’t want to think about the order. NaNo reminds us that order is not so hard to achieve, if you are willing to let it happen.

Today, I was willing to let it happen. Before getting out of bed, I had a plan. I decided I would reach 5,000 words by lunchtime. Then I would do the many other things on my list, like going to the gym, updating my blog, cleaning the house, etc. Once those things were done, I could sit down and write some more.

Because I had a set plan, I was not trying to do a million things at once. I knew I had to reach my word count for the day or I would not do the other things I needed to do. And you know what? Not only did I accomplish everything on my list, but I finished ahead of schedule.

3. NaNoWriMo stretches my limits and shows me what’s possible

Following along the same lines as the previous point, by focusing, I was able to get a really good sense of how much content I can produce in a set amount of time, and I don’t think the quality suffered more than it suffers in any first draft. Seeing how easy it is to write 5,000 words in 1 day gives me renewed hope in my ability to actually complete a project. The massive rewrite I’m undertaking with my original WIP (yes, I am currently working on 2 projects) has been disheartening to say the least. Now that I see how much I can produce in a day, I feel like it is possible to finish project 1 and all future projects. I stretched my limits today, at it feels great.

And the Conclusion is…

So what is the point of this extremely long post? I’m not saying every writer should participate in NaNo. But if you are like me and having problems figuring out the time management, discipline, reaching your full potential etc. craziness that is all part of being a successful writer, especially one working a full-time job on top of writing, maybe you should think about participating. It’s not too late to sign up.

Sep 07

We are now 1 week into September, which means I have 3 weeks left to finish my first draft if I’m going to meet my deadline. As it stands, I have 30,057 words, or 105 pages. Can I make it to the finish line? I’d better.

This leaves me about 3 weeks to write 15,000 words. Considering NaNoWriMo participants write 50,000 words in 4 weeks, and my most successful year I wrote 40,000 (the basis for my current WIP), it should be doable. Of course, of those 40,000 words I wrote in those 4 weeks, I have only kept about 10,000, if that.

Why the push to finish my first draft by September 30?

There are a couple reasons:

To give me time to edit it and have it submission ready by the end of the year. I’m not sure how long edits will take, but I’m hoping this will be enough time. I plan on hiring an editor through Grub Street, so hopefully that will help speed up the process.
I have a YA book concept pulling at my creativity and I’m dying to start outlining. I’m already having trouble deciding which book to plot out in my head before bed – my WIP or this new concept I’m loving more and more each day
To gear up for NaNoWriMo – I plan on using my new YA concept for this years challenge, and I want to spend all of October hammering out a solid outline (I know, this sort of breaks the rules, but they never actually rule out outlines, they just dissuade you from using them). I’m hoping to finally complete my 50,000 words in 1 month and be well on my way to completing a second book. If this first book attempt has shown me anything, it’s the importance of writing from an outline. Going into my current WIP not knowing how it was going to end has really slowed things down.
I need to finish. Come November 1, I will have been working on this book for 3 years. I remember reading somewhere that it takes most first time authors about that long to write their first book. I didn’t believe it at the time. And now here I am, approaching my 3 year mark. It’s not so much about the time I’ve put into this, but it’s more about the emotional connection. I’ve been with this WIP longer than some divorces I know were married. The more emotionally connected I get to this book, the harder it will be to deal with criticism and edits. I need to be done.
I need to move on.

My plan of action

I have to reach ~750 words a day. This is actually not that difficult. Most days I write during lunch. I can usually got 500-600 words in my 30 minute lunch period. That just means I will have to devote another 15-30 minutes each evening to writing, plus 30 minutes to entering everything into the computer (I write by hand during lunch and before bed).

Naturally, life will get in the way some days. I don’t want to blow all of my creative energy this month and have nothing left for November, so I would like to still have a life this month. But lucky for me, I already know of a few things that will help me out. Take next week. I will spend 3.5 hours on the Acela Monday morning. There’s nothing I love more than writing on trains, and isn’t that how J.K. Rowling outlined her entire series, on a train trip? I will then spend that entire week in New York, meaning a hotel room waiting for me every evening, full of few to no distractions and time for lots of writing. Then there are the weekends. If I stay focused, I can get a couple thousand words each weekend day. Piece of cake.

Of course, this means my creativity time will be extremely important. But who knows, maybe I’ll throw a celebration in October once the 1st draft is complete. And now that I’ve just written close to 700 non-WIP words, back to writing.

To Quit or Not to Quit – a.k.a. Should I be a full-time writer?

My course of Action

Can meditation make you a better writer? – The Meditation Experiment

750 words revisited – making writing a habit