Planning Your Time: A Community Workshop

Yo Gabba Gabba! Yo Gabba Gabba! Yohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Gabba Gabba!

Sorry, it had to be done. My babies are addicted too.

Time management is a big thing for me. I'm a doer and my return to mothering infants really put a stopper on that. I've had to learn to let others help me, particlarly the hubby. I long for a housekeeper, lol, but I'll have to sell a lot of books for that to happen. Like...a lot.

The thing I've also learned is to roll with the punches. Editing would be great to be able to do on the computer, but my girls enjoy messing with it too much and the get screamy when I'm out of reach. So, to save the eardrums, I print out the book and edit by pen while in their space. Plus I'm very free to scribble any ideas that way. 

It's either that or slip them mickeys and I don't think anyone would approve of that, lol.

Dee 

to the procrastinators!  Both of my kids are in school and I work 1 1/2 days a week, so I should have tons of time to write.  But I don't get nearly as much done as I should.  I use a timer to motivate myself, and to keep from being sucked into the internet/e-mail timewaster.  But I really like the idea of leaving the house to work.  Wonder where I could go....

trish 

going out to a cafe to write. Wrote two books at Mimi's Cafe. It was wonderful.

But there are more distractions than kids. Like...bill paying and house cleaning and laundry. My house feels like a living being that poos all day. So leaving the house is an excellent way to reduce that pressure.

 Another way to make writing time it to set up a schedule and a place to write comfortably. If you can't get out of the house, no problem. Go write in your bedroom. Or one trick I had, go write in my SON'S bedroom (provided it was clean.) it's a different environment, meaning I can focus purely on the story and not what's around me.

 Hugs,

Dee 

That's very true, Michelle. Those small snatches add up to a lot after a while. (I do the same thing with sleep.)

Does anyone have any tips for writing while still doing your 9 to 5 for "The Man"? LOL!

Dee 

I work full tim, so I've worked hard to train myself to be productive in the evening. As soon as I get home I get a light, portable dinner and a coffee and tell people I'm working (very important to prevent distractions!) then write until my daily target's done.

Similar to the timer idea - I break up my time to stay motivated, giving myself half an hour to write 300-500 words. Then I'll break to load the dishwasher or whatever, have a chocolate as a reward, and it's back into the story. That way I can get about 2500 words done in an evening.

I don't usually have any problem leaving the work to do a chore, then coming back to it later.  I keep my mind on it while folding laundry or sweeping the floor or whatever.  I try to save reading and TV for after the day's goal is met, because that will totally take me out of the story world, but housework never does!!

What I'm having trouble with right now is fitting writing in around my mother's health problems.  I've had to make my daily goals smaller, because I can't write while visiting her.  She wouldn't mind, but there are other visitors in and out constantly. Too much distraction for me.

trish 

...I actually pay for a couple more hours of daycare than I need to cover the hours I work for my part-time job.  Hehehe!  I'm fortunate in that my dh is cool with this (he can't wait until I hit it big so he can go back to grad school...yeah, like when he's eighty) and we live in a college town where early childhood education majors are willing to work for next to nothing for job experience remotely related to their field.  So I have highly qualified people looking after my kids, while I'm sneaking away to write!

Gosh, I almost feel guilty!

That sounds like a great idea, Raeanne, but then I'd have to cook!  My dh has learned to call around 5 and ask what I'd like for him to pick up for dinner on the way home from work.

We homeschool, so I've learned to write with lots of distractions, but I also do some of the tricks others use.  Get up earlier than everyone else, print out work to edit at practices, and doctors' appts.  I use the crock-pot a lot.  For that final push, or if I really have to have no interruptions, I'll leave the house.

My spouse is much happier if I give him a couple of hours a day without the computer on my lap.   

Dee, I want a housekeeper, too, but I think she'd get two steps inside the front door and run away screaming.

I don't know why writing is so hard with a family, but it is.  Maybe the sheer amount of creative energy it takes, and families require so much of that, as well.

Steph  

Well, the only thing I've found that works well is getting up REEAAALLL early. You know, before the crack of sunrise and all that. It's so quiet and my brain works well then. Late at night? No way. I'm a cauliflower head by 8 p.m.

Also setting a do or die word count goal helps. I try for 1000 words a day and having a concrete number to shoot for keeps me focused. More or less, anyway.

I'm just the opposite. I cannot work if the house is a mess. I have to keep up with the housework in order to get any words on the page, hence the housework breaks while I'm writing. I'm just weird that way.

And, I'm useless both early and late. So I do most of my writing between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Well, on a good day, I'm through by 4, when the kids get home, but good days are few and far between, lately.

But I'm lucky enough that I work only 1.5 days a week and both kids are in school. That makes a huge difference.

trish

driving, and showering usually get the plotting going. I wish I had simulator car at my house, so I could hop in any time, because I get my best ideas while driving.

I'm like you, Trish, with the early/late thing. I'm not a morning person, nor am I a night owl. I turn into a pumpkin around 9 and can barely keep my eyes open to read a book someone else has written, much less my own. This time of year is particularly exhausting, because I am a school librarian and there is so much 'year end' stuff to get done. I have two dds(6 and 9) with all of their 'year end' stuff. Ugh. I have 11 more days.

I'm pooped! Is there an emoticon for that?

 LindaC

Oh, yes.  I get very cranky when my writing time is gobbled up by the busy monster.  I mean, like hubby shoving me in my office and closing the door with order for everyone to leave me alone, mommy's writing, cranky.  (someone build an emoticon for that one! )  It's not a pretty sight.

Linda, I haven't thought about a simulator car at the house.  But I do have crayons in the shower.  And everyone knows not to mess with mom's writing on the wall!  Even if they can't read it or make sense of the diagrams, I can.  Inspiration always happens in the shower.

Right now, my timer's running and I have other boards to visit in the eleven and a half minutes I have before I have to go clean the kitchen, so--

later,

trish

Where does it all go? Our often lost car keys,time, youth,even our figures! This I ponder at around 2 am (eastren time) as I sit here, knowing I can't sleep. My muse is flighty these days to say the least. Who knows when or where she will pop up, usually in the most inconvient places. I can hear her, I just wish she would go home and leave me a note.

 Ok to tell a piece about me I'm a 34 yr old mom of 4.  Yes that's right four kids. I have gone back to college. It will be my second year at the end of summer.Speaking of summer I will be busy as a bee....... Being real busy to say the least these days I guess I can not blame my muse for going elsewhere to get the attention she needs. All of the writing I have been doing (I'm in college comp 2  and psychology right now) I haven't had the time to sit and get into the zone for my writing. Just bits and pieces here and there. With summer break for the kids only 2 weeks away I think my sanity will be following my muse! I'd love to have a Kenny Chesney moment - great music, cool drink, warm sandy beaches and cool breezes!!!! Not to mention one of those tropical hunks! Hey, somebody needs to keep my drinks coming...................

I have a three month old baby, so any time she takes a nap, I take one too, although it never really counts.

My biggest flaw is I never can get myself into routine. God knows what will happen when I go back to work in July.

I do have one question, though.

All you people who mange to squeeze in writing  in 30 minutes or 1 hour, how do you guys do it?

Usually it takes me about 30 -45 minutes to get into the flow. I have been trying to make myself write but I just can't pick up the story immediately.

is often difficult. Before I had my girls--who could care less about my concentration--I would select music to listen to while I write a book that has the "feel" of each character and a one or a few songs that convey the feel of the whole book. After a while, you really don't hear it consciously anymore. But the MOOD is set. You'd be surprised how much of a shortcut it can be after a while. You hear the song and like pavlov's dog, you'll want that character in your head. And it generally shows up! :)

Whoops, where are my manners? Welcome to you both!

I am currently looking at three straight days of laundry to catch up--I'll be starting that today--but I find the only way I get my writing time is to steal it from the children. Sneaking over the partition while they play. Pulling away as soon as they're asleep to nab a few words... Even typing over the back of the couch. And I have a hubby to help me. If they complain a lot, I just tell them, this is how mommy gets you food, gang. They aren't old enough to know what that means, but by the time they are, I'm hoping they'll be inured to backing off a few inches at least.

Here's to all the moms who have to get it done and carve some time for themselves. :)

Dee 

I've been struggling with reality overshadowing my creativity add procrastination and there are days I wonder if this wip will ever be complete.  Having a routine saves me.

I work on days my DH is at work and the boys are at school.  I jot down a list of things that need done.  As Dee, I have certain music I listen to with each story, for whatever reason it gets me in the right frame of mind.  I open my file and set the timer, 15-30 minutes depending on what else I need to do, with teenagers laundry is never ending, then back to writing. 

Before I started this, I was always waiting until I had the ‘time' to write.  At first it was hard to get back into the story but now I find that I carry the story with me to the dishes, to folding laundry, even to the dentist and when my fingers hit the keys again I'm ready to write. 

I also carry a notebook with me everywhere because inspiration strikes at the oddest moments like waiting for paint to mix at wal-mart or for ds ‘s event at track meets.

I like a combination of music and quiet to write to. I have a writing playlist full of intrumental music to help put me in the world of the story, and random love songs to keep my imagination in romance mode. But once I'm really into the writing, the music goes off, otherwise it becomes a distraction.

I've found that a bit of noise and activity keeps me motivated. When I write in the living room with my family bustling round, I feel guilty for procrastinating so I find I get more done in less time. This is how I've taught myself to tune out distractions and concentrate a lot better.

It's all paid off - as I type I'm printing off my second draft of this wip ready for the big final edit (hopefully!)  

of the headphones for the illusion of privacy.  It doesn't work with my children, unfortunately, just makes them yell at me.  <g>  I've threatened to get DH's heavy duty headphones from his workshop (think firing range hearing protection) so I can work in peace sometimes.  He won't let me have them, though.  I do work with music turned down real low in the background.  If it's too loud, I find myself wanting to sing along, but if I can barely hear it, it's enough to block out distractions and not be a distraction itself, if that makes any sense.

trish 

i have a hard time not doing the housework.  it's how i was raised.  but i have learned that now that my girls are 6 & 8, for the most part they can be responsible for their own rooms & playroom.  i don't clean the bathrooms, dust or vaccuum as much as i should, but i do keep clutter down.  i find that clutter around me sort of "clutters my brain". luckily, i am a sahm, but my kids are in school full-time.

i like the idea of a reward sysem.  i kind of do that, too.  i set my goals (usually based on what i accomplished the day before) and don't let myself read (my other great passion) until it's done. 

with the kids getting out of school soon, i am toying with writing first thing in the morning...only thing is, when i get into it...sometimes i can't turn it off and my poor kids may never get to the pool!  who am i kidding?  they will badger me until i take them!