My good blogging pal, Glasshalfful Gal, is starting a Creative Writing Challenge game on her blog. We haven't worked out all the deets yet, but it sure sounds like a good way to kick that writing muse in the rear!
She plans to begin on Saturday with our first short story due April 1st. So, head over to her blog and check it out! I plan on participating to try and get my discipline back!!
Speaking of discipline......for Wednesday's Writing, I want to know if you have a schedule or routine to go with your writing? I've tried many, many different forms of scheduling my writing time and it's not easy with a job that doesn't keep the same days off from week to week, three children and a husband. I imagine it's not easy if you do have a job with regular days off and you have no children. Let's face it; there's always something else that needs to be done, right?
My latest and greatest attempt looks like this:
WIP ONLY: Mon, Wed, Fri for 2 hours
weekends if possible
REVISING ONLY: Tues, Thurs for one hour
Friday if possible
BLOG POSTING ONLY: Saturday or Sunday
Let's see if this at least gets me back into the swing of sitting at my computer to write...not to facebook. ;) What are your tricks?
Showing posts with label schedules. Show all posts
Showing posts with label schedules. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Monday, December 14, 2009
Lovely Monday
Wow! I'm not even going to lie...I've seen this award on other blogs and I always get a teeny tiny bit envious. It's such a pretty award and now I get to display it on my blog! *squee!* Do you see how easy it is to make me happy? Thank you Liza over at Middle Passages for choosing my blog out of the big ol' blogosphere. It's always an honor. Check out Liza's blog too!
Now, the official rules state that I'm to find fifteen more bloggers to award this to, but Liza absolved me of having to follow the rules. So for now, I will link to as many as I can and of course I've linked back to Liza, who truly does have an amazing blog.
Now on to other Monday type of business...
I've put myself on a new schedule. We shall see if this works.This time it will work. You see, in my house, with the variety of ages in my children and the court jester disabled, schedules are sort of...unscheduled. I mean, we don't know what we are doing tomorrow, usually, until tomorrow comes. We try...it just never seems to happen. We tried having a schedule before of times for me to write and that definitely did not work. So, we're trying a new one. It goes like this:
Mon-Fri: Blog, it is helpful to me creatively, it's like the warm-up before you start jogging
Mon, Wed and Fri: Add 1000 to 2000 words in my new WIP, Stolen Years
Tues and Thurs: Light editing of Nano Project, Addiction and Critiques for my group, add new words in Stolen Years.
Sat and Sun: Organize any notes into my nifty and FREE MemoMaster, Catch up on reading
Some of the best advice I've ever read, that would smack me back into reality gently remind me that if you want to be published, just write a book and you're done it's work and it's a job you must put effort into. Write every day, feel like it or not. If you want to be successful you will find or make the time to write every day. You will make the time to read. You will make the time to network/blog/tweet (omg, I do not understand tweetering)
Now, I've done well with the consistency of writing every day. Nano really helped me with that, too. However, everything else seems to be shuffled to the side or forgotten and it really bugs the OCD in me that is often stuffed away. Hence...the new 'schedule'. I'll keep you updated.
Random thought: I'm growing impatient. I really want to query....I want to query so badly I'm thinking of digging out my picture books and trying to find an agent with them. I'm very proud of all my fellow agented bloggers, querying and submitting bloggers...but, uhm, you make me a little jealous. I find myself pushing harder and harder and then doubting myself more. What do you think?
So, I have some writing to do...what about your Monday?
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Routines and Schedules
Are you an orderly person or a chaotic one? Do you plan things months in advance, keep lists, track birthdays and alphabetize your movies? Or are you the person in some all night gas station on Christmas Eve frantically searching for SOMETHING to give all your friends?
I used to consider myself a good balance between the two. I liked the impulsive lifestyle of running out at midnight to go for a two hour road trip just to watch the sun rise in a certain place. (It looks different from every angle, you know!) However, I also keep most things organized, have a spot for everything so I don't go on long searches for shoes, nail clippers, or clothing. Now that I'm old-er (not old), I find that chaos has NO place in my life anymore. I've sort of become the stuffy grown up. As hard as I try not to, I feel completely lost when things happen out of order.
I have three children, one of them being almost one (WOW), so my home is not by any means the pristine shrine of organization. And this summer, more than ever, our home and family dynamic has been CHAOS. This summer, I learned a lot about us as a family and the things we had taken for granted. One of those things being predictability. A routine, a schedule of some sort...we crave it! We need it to function happily and positively.
So, when the first day of school arrived, this past Monday, I couldn't wait to get back on a routine. I expected some resistance from my children-after all, when mom is too busy to remind you of chores and bedtimes during the summer, it's a party! But, you wouldn't believe it. Every day of the week, my two beautiful girls woke up, dressed themselves and in general were ready for school right on time without any fights. This is a HUGE improvement from what we had all summer long. I immediately noticed the shift in the Universe...the collective sigh of relief we all felt. Aaaaahhhh a schedule, a routine, a necessary change in life's battles.
Not only have the kids had a change for the better, but my writing has too. I have had more time to breathe and write. I have had time to really think about the things I want in life and really re-focus my attention to things I've ignored for too long because I was too busy.
What about you, my fellow writers and friends? Do you feel that schedules and routines help or hinder you? Some authors feel stifled, I've heard. I wonder what you feel keeps your writing in line, and your goals and dreams. Let me know!
I used to consider myself a good balance between the two. I liked the impulsive lifestyle of running out at midnight to go for a two hour road trip just to watch the sun rise in a certain place. (It looks different from every angle, you know!) However, I also keep most things organized, have a spot for everything so I don't go on long searches for shoes, nail clippers, or clothing. Now that I'm old-er (not old), I find that chaos has NO place in my life anymore. I've sort of become the stuffy grown up. As hard as I try not to, I feel completely lost when things happen out of order.
I have three children, one of them being almost one (WOW), so my home is not by any means the pristine shrine of organization. And this summer, more than ever, our home and family dynamic has been CHAOS. This summer, I learned a lot about us as a family and the things we had taken for granted. One of those things being predictability. A routine, a schedule of some sort...we crave it! We need it to function happily and positively.
So, when the first day of school arrived, this past Monday, I couldn't wait to get back on a routine. I expected some resistance from my children-after all, when mom is too busy to remind you of chores and bedtimes during the summer, it's a party! But, you wouldn't believe it. Every day of the week, my two beautiful girls woke up, dressed themselves and in general were ready for school right on time without any fights. This is a HUGE improvement from what we had all summer long. I immediately noticed the shift in the Universe...the collective sigh of relief we all felt. Aaaaahhhh a schedule, a routine, a necessary change in life's battles.
Not only have the kids had a change for the better, but my writing has too. I have had more time to breathe and write. I have had time to really think about the things I want in life and really re-focus my attention to things I've ignored for too long because I was too busy.
What about you, my fellow writers and friends? Do you feel that schedules and routines help or hinder you? Some authors feel stifled, I've heard. I wonder what you feel keeps your writing in line, and your goals and dreams. Let me know!
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