Elusive time

[hcreformer]

I'm looking for the collective wisdom of this group. I'm just too
darn busy with my day job to finish this novel I've been working on
for a year. I'm a first-time novelist, and probably doing just about
everything wrong. Part of the problem is the complexity of my topic.
Whatever I'm doing, It's not working. Is there such thing as a
writing coach, who can get me up at 5am, like a personal trainer, and
make me do pushups if I don't finish my scene before work? How can I
squeeze time out of an insanely full schedule to finish this book
before another year passes?

[Janna Willard]

It sounds like it's not just writing that's getting pushed to the side.

My personal favourite time management method is Julie Morgenstern's method, which is detailed in her book, Time Management from the Inside Out. She's a professional organizer and this method is actually do-able for pretty well anyone, regardless of how your mind works, because it's completely customizable. (She also has a book called Organizing from the Inside Out, one called When Organizing Isn't Enough, and one about work that I haven't read since I don't have a real day job.)

-Janna

"Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal." Albert Camus
"I want to remake the world; anything less is not worth the trouble." Karen Cushman

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[Simon Haynes]

hcreformer wrote:

> I'm looking for the collective wisdom of this group. I'm just too
> darn busy with my day job to finish this novel I've been working on
> for a year. I'm a first-time novelist, and probably doing just about
> everything wrong. Part of the problem is the complexity of my topic.
> Whatever I'm doing, It's not working. Is there such thing as a
> writing coach, who can get me up at 5am, like a personal trainer, and
> make me do pushups if I don't finish my scene before work? How can I
> squeeze time out of an insanely full schedule to finish this book
> before another year passes?
>

When I was working full time I'd set aside 20 minutes a day to write 500 words.

500 words a day is stuff all, but it adds up to over 182,000 words per year.

I had a PDA with a portable keyboard, and could type that word count in my lunch break. Or I'd type it at my desk (during breaks) straight into my email prog, and send it to myself.

Regards
Simon Haynes
--
Freelance software engineer: http://www.spacejock.com
Author & freelance writer: http://www.spacejock.com.au

[Peter Barns]

I always think that if you really want to write - if it means anything at all to you - you'll find the time. For instance, how much time to do spend watching TV? Could you cut that down by half an hour? How about setting the alarm clock an hour earlier? There is always time available if you really want to write.

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[hcreformer]

Thank you all. I need to just commit some time to the effort, and I
know that. I like the idea that 500 words a day adds up to a lot of
words per year. I may have set my writing goals too high (a scene a
day), and consequently used that as an excuse. I knew before I asked
the question that it was all up to me. I'm going to do this! I
refuse to be one of those would-be novelists who never finishes the
first book....

Thanks for your encouragement.

On Mar 12, 7:32 am, Peter Barns <pe...@boddaert.co.uk> wrote:
> I always think that if you really want to write - if it means anything at
> all to you - you'll find the time. For instance, how much time to do spend
> watching TV? Could you cut that down by half an hour? How about setting the
> alarm clock an hour earlier? There is always time available if you really
> want to write.
>

> *Author, poet and versifier*

[Jennie Dorny]

I work full time, and have a two hour commute each day. Since writing on
Saturdays and Sundays wasn't enough, I set up a new schedule last fall. When
I get home from work between 7:30/8pm, I turn on the computer and write for
an hour or more. Then, I prepare my dinner and watch TV, or read. I don't
work in terms of words/day like most of the writers in this group do, but in
terms of time spent. Some days I write a lot, some days I just workon what I
wrote the day before. It all depends on how tired I am. But at least, little
by little, the novel gets written, and pages add up.
It's really a question of how determined you are, because if you want, you
can always find the time!

[briag...@gmail.com]

I schedule specific writing time in my appropriately named "Purple Calendar
of Doom." Otherwise, I think I'm going to find time and I never do. So I
have to actually schedule it in. And my rear end has to be in the chair
regardless of whether I feel like it, I'm tired, or any other excuse. Even
if I only write a couple hundred words.

Thanks for your encouragement.

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[Michelle Norton]

Right now I have a split shift so I write in between shifts. Also I have a few friends that write and we head to a coffee shop at least one night a week to write and talk...production depends on what's going on but we all write at least a few hundred words. Usually more.

Its about trading time...I only watch about two hours of tv a week, I don't work on any other hobbies as much as I used to. I always get in reading time everyday because that's essential to writing.

I have kids so I schedule around their time as well. If you really want to write...you do. If your doing this just for money or fame...definetly a bad career choice. ;P

[Dick Keaton]

Here's something that might help. It helps me whenever I need a bit of
impetus or some elusive 'inspiration.'

http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/pep/peter-careys-pep-talk

Good luck!

[Bob Newell]

Check out the book "The Weekend Novelist" for ideas on how to organize
your work and your time.
--
Bob Newell
Honolulu, Hawai`i
* Sent via NoGnus 0.18-Emacs 23.1-Ubuntu Linux 10.04 *

[Sara]

For me, it's not so much about eh,it'd be nice to write, but it's a
need. If I wrote when I thought about it, I would write a lot more
than I do. However, it usually ends up me needing to get words on a
paper (or screen as is usually the case these days). I usually don't
get much writing done (even with copious amounts of 'free time')
unless I feel the need. I get more writing done when I spend some
of that 'free time' plotting and planning and considering; then when
I get sat down to actually 'write', I am just putting what's been
rolling around inside my head for days on the page. That may not be
what you're talking about, but I think it bears considering. Every
writer is different, of course. :)
SARA

[hcreformer]

I have the Weekend Novelist by my bedside, and have read through much
of it. I transcribe to note cards those (novel-related) thoughts that
are floating around in my head all the time. My workspace is covered
with them, and I've taped them to my wall in a big outline I can see
at a glance. I've used scene cards, character cards, powerpoint (to
put pictures of my characters with their brief bios), and a program
called personal brain. A few hundred words, even 500 words per day...
sounds reasonable. With my new tool, yWriter, I should be able to
just jot down those 300-500 words into a scene where I think it
belongs, and then edit the rough drafts over and over until it's
'perfect.' Sounds like a plan.

John