Okay, You're Sitting Down to Write. Now What?

Now that you're thoroughly motivated, how do you manage your time?

Roz Morris just posted something I thought was brilliant. Not only does she have a working list of what you need to be productive WHILE you write, she also shares some advice on what a writer should do during the in-between hours.

K.M. Weiland shared something similar in her post: Improve Yourself, Improve Your Writing. Profound, and so true.

Balancing Life, Writing, and Multiple Projects by Holly Schindler via The First Novels Club. This post was exhausting to read. Will I ever be that busy with my writing? Will I survive when I do? But she gives some great tips.

And this post by Sara Lambert is more about staying motivated, but I thought it could go here: How Sara Lambert Overcame Her Procrastination.

All About You: How Do You Do It?

I thought today's post could be all about you. If you write, what does your schedule look like? Do you write every day, or whenever you find a moment to yourself?
What time of day do you prefer to write?
What gets in the way of your writing time more than anything else?
Do you reward yourself if you reach a certain goal? What's the goal and what's the reward?

Please comment. I can't wait to see how you guys do it!

Mommy-Writers Have a Tough Gig

Being a writer and a mom at the same time is a challenge and it's been on my mind a lot lately. I've posted on writing while living your life before, but things are changing. My little girl doesn't take naps any more. And then there's the whole pregnancy thing. I wonder how long I'll have to take off before I feel human enough to set and reach writing goals again.

As it becomes more difficult to find time to write, I've come to some conclusions:

1. I need to be well-rested. Trying to write or revise or concentrate on anything in any way while I'm exhausted is frustrating and a waste of time. Unfortunately, I'm pregnant and therefore tired all the time. One thing that's helped me is to wake up earlier than I normally would, get the basic morning routine done, and then take a power nap once everything is settled. I get the same amount of sleep, but for some reason, it feels so much better.
2. Write when you can. I used to write during my little girl's naps, but now that those are non-existent, I've had to readjust. (It took me a couple of days to find something that worked.) I write at night. I'll give up tv to make it happen, even though it helps me unwind at night. (By the way, I noticed that writing also helps me unwind so this is an epic discovery for me.) (Oh, and giving up tv is much easier now that Lost and 24 are over. Just sayin'.)
3. Beg, steal, and bargain for writing time whenever you can. I give DH shoulder rubs, he takes the kid for a few hours on Saturday. It's totally awesome.
4. Set goals (or you'll fall into a pathetic slump). Complacency is the enemy of the self-motivated writer. I give myself ambitious deadlines and use spreadsheets to track my progress.
5. Take breaks. Between projects and during. I know this sounds contradictory to #4, but I'd be a useless glob of bio-matter if I didn't take Sundays off.

If you want to hear a more experienced voice on the subject, Galleycat offers some help for those writing with children, including helpful links and advice from Clive Young, Maggie Stiefvater and Adrienne Maria Vrettos.

And straight from S.A. Larsen (hi!) at the Writers' Alley, come 10 Ways to be a Mom and a Writer.

Is Your NaNo stuck?

Okay, so we’re about a week into NaNoWriMo. Stuck yet? Here are a few ideas to get you going and/or motivated.

1) Mind Map. Have a problem? Can’t figure out why a cat keeps popping up in your scenes? Maybe your character received a letter in the mail and you don’t know what it is. (Been there.) Try putting whatever “it” is in the middle of a piece of paper (or a program like http://bubbl.us) and ask yourself questions about it. Write whatever comes to mind. It’s worked for me countless times.

2) Try a Timer. Set it for 10-20 minutes and write NON-STOP until the timer goes off. Write about your problem or whatever comes to mind. Just make sure you don’t censor yourself or edit. When you’re done, look back at what you wrote. Do you understand your problem a little better? Did you discover a new angle or viewpoint or solution?

Did it work?

Making Time to Write

This month, I've had to give myself a good swift kick in the pants about sitting down and writing. Apparently, I'm not the only one. Usually, I would get on the computer, thinking I would write, but of course I had to check my email. And Facebook. And my writing blogs of course. And my critique group forums. And...

Yeah. Before I knew it, the baby was awake again and I hadn't done any writing. (Shameful, I know.)

So my new policiy is: I check email and all that in between getting breakfast for Rebecca, prepping for dinner, and if she watches a movie quietly I'll do it then. I also get chores done during this time. (I do the dishes while she eats breakfast. It works out nicely.) Also, if she sleeps in, I can get a lot done in that first hour of my day.

But when she takes a nap, that's it. Put everything else aside, it's writing time. I got a lot done today. I worked on my book for an hour and a half, which I thought was pretty good, then I ate some lunch. Cause I was hungry. :)

How to Cope with a Writing Workshop

I had my first Advanced Fiction Workshop this week, and I think I'll keep going. Our first assignment is people-watching, which I need to do more of. This class will be good for me. Looking at the assignments, I can see that there's a lot that I would never do on my own.

We'll be writing a short short story (2-3 pages--yikes!) every WEEK for the first half of the semester.

I'm intimidated. Getting a full story in three pages is just plain scary. Not to mention the fact that I need to come up with a new story idea on a weekly basis...

ON TOP OF revising and rewriting Shadow Bound AND planning and writing my phantom novel.

Our last day of class is November 30th. How inconvenient. This means crunch time falls right in line with NaNoWriMo. I'll definitely have my hands full.

But it's worth it. I'll grow as a writer and I'll get to use some techniques from Think Sideways. In the first month of the course, we're taught to "summon lightning", or a story idea. I did it, but I wasn't looking for a new story idea at the time. Now I'll get to put it to good use. :)

There's also a later lesson on using "spies" -- basically, people who know more about what you're writing than you do. For example, I ask a doctor about hospital procedures so my writing is more authentic. Well, guess what? One of our assignments is to write a story that requires research and an interview. Nice how that works out.

How to Get More Writing Done

I'm back from my little experiment. I took off nearly a week from the internet in order to get more writing done.

First, if you think you might want to do this, you need to realize that if you shut down your internet access (and, as I did, your computer access) that a bunch of other things will try to fill in your time gap. I had no idea how many things I wasn't doing. Seriously.

But, not having the distraction of the computer did help my writing. No question. I revised a huge chunk of my book and wasn't pressured by my goal of fifteen pages a day. I hit the mark with ease :)

I was more focused when I wasn't working, too. If I was doing something else, my mind was a little clearer and I could think about my writing and what I wanted to change, and all that good stuff, so I was more efficient when I did sit down to work.

And when I came back? I turned on my computer and sorted through emails, checked (and read) the blogs I follow, checked and replied to a slew of forum posts, checked facebook, etc... all in about three and a half hours! Over the course of five days, I usually spend closer to ten hours doing all that stuff. An amazing time saver, though I may have missed some stuff.

So, I'm halfway done with the hard copy edit of my ghost novel. My goal is to finish by the end of the month, then do my soft copy edit. (Basically, going back and typing in all the edits and notes I made on the hard copy.) That leaves me with querying agents. I should be done with plenty of time to plan my phantom novel for November.

So, my next post will be on revising a manuscript. I've searched for different methods in preparation for what I'm doing now, and I'll share the best of it with you.

Tomorrow. I'm exhausted.

Hope all is going well with your writing!

Finding Time to Write

How much time do you spend on the computer? If you're reading this, odds are quite a bit. I'm guilty of spending hours (yes hours) a day on my computer -- on facebook, following blogs (mostly on writing), reading articles on writing and publishing, and reading and posting on a few writing forums. Then there's email and other everyday stuff.

If I took even half of that computer time and put it toward writing (or in my current case, revising), think how much more work I could get done!

So, I'm going to take the next 5 days off from my computer. I shudder to think of what will be waiting for me when I come back -- piles of emails, alerts, messages, posts, articles... but I think it'll be worth it.