Or How to Carve Out Time for Writing When You Have a Day Job!
Oh, and it’s not JUST writing your novel! Building a social media platform and blogging gobbles up time as well!
So in the honor of Thanksgiving, this blog is dedicated to the many thankful ways this mom-teacher-author makes time for writing.
Writing a novel is a big enough task to swallow, but blogging and tweeting and social media-ing ( yep, I made the word a verb ) means biting off more than you can chew and often having to spit out those chores that are burning yummy writing time.
Here’s my recipe.
Prep time before work
-
Send out a tweet or 2 while eating bowl of oatmeal
-
post latest blog on Facebook groups ( Monday is a BIG day–make sure to use the #MondayBlogs hashtag)
-
look at last words I wrote of work-in-progress so next scene can marinate while commuting
-
tweet while standing in line at Starbucks
-
note any ideas/keywords/phrases after car is parked
Preheating the creative oven during work
-
tweet or check tweets while walking to bathroom or during passing period
- any flashes of brilliance are stored in one of my idea vaults ( See Idea Vaults )
Stuffing in the social media data during lunch
-
check Facebook and Twitter
-
read blogs or articles
- check email
-
save links or forward links to read at home
Basting those priorities while driving home and while running errands ( bank, grocery store, dry cleaners)
-
deciding the best use of my time for the next few hours
Carving those juicy hours. I have only about 3 hours before the brain shuts down and the eyes glaze over, therefore I maximize whatever the brain is capable of.
- Sizzling hot brain: Excels at plotting, outlining, and writing first drafts. Dinner isn’t happening! Neither is laundry nor any other household task. The phone goes unanswered. I respond with hand signals. ( See Hand Signals for Writers.) This is PRIME time.
- Room temperature brain: Handles re-writes, editing, and blogging. Making dinner, throwing in a load of laundry, talking to kiddos and hubby, paying a bill–these don’t require creative intensity. Interruptions are OK, and the family gets dinner.
- Refrigerator Brain: Capable of tweeting, liking, and commenting on various social media platforms. Cold brain is also good for pinning photos on Pinterest, reading blogs/articles, researching, annotating, reading, and trashing spam. This is my “down time.”
Those three hours during the weekday are deliciously precious. I don’t watch TV; however, I will watch something on Netflix while on the treadmill.
The Smorgasbord Weekend
-
This is the time I get the most accomplished and when the most progress is made on a manuscript. I work from morning until my vision gets blurry because without the 1 &1/2 hr commute, the 200+ student questions, and 5 am wake time the ol’ sizzling brain stays hot.
Why it’s gravy: I love writing and enjoy the entire process so it’s not work—it’s a joy.
