Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

The best laid plans often go awry.

By now, I should know that, but still it has a tendency to take me by surprise. I’m not sure how, but it still does. In October, I had fully intended to take two weeks off from the whole blog writing thing. Yes, I know October is more than two weeks ago. I did notice that, but time, slippery stuff that it is, got away from me.

Contrary to anything you might read, I am not in fact dead. I took the two weeks I had planned to show ponies at Welsh Nationals, to handle the awards for that show, and to show Boer goats and rabbits at the Tulsa State Fair. Aside from breaking my own big toe by being a klutz, I had a wonderful time. But then things kind of went insane.

The problem with taking two weeks off to show, is that all your other chores back up. I had a novel deadline to meet, and a second one that needed editing. Two family birthdays, both big important ones, and a major cooking holiday. Then of course there is the fact that it is goat breeding season, so all our does have to be bred. Unfortunately, we lost our herdsire to pneumonia after the months of flooding, so everyone got to be bred either by AI or by being driven to an outside buck. Then my ancient Labrador-mutt decided she’d lived long enough, which took the heart out of me for a few days.

I’m not telling you all this because I need a hug, but because this is the way it is for all writers. No, I really doubt that Anne Rice or Orson Scott Card spent any part of the last month defrosting sperm or peering at mucus to determine whether or not this was the ‘right’ time. We face different challenges, but we are still faced with the same 24 hour days and 48 hour lives.

When I realized it had been over a week since I’d written a word, I knew I had to do something. I’m just not happy when I’m not writing, and there were these deadlines looming in front of me. So I put myself on a schedule, and one that might be useful to you.

First, I ditched half of the stuff on my to-do list.

Yep, you heard me right. I was seriously behind, and I cut my list in half. Why? Because I was exhausted, and I wasn’t finishing the lists anyway, so all they were giving me was more guilt. Guilt is tiring, and I don’t want to bother with it. Then I scheduled the writing first. There is one two hour block for my main project, a half hour block for my secondary project, and five five-minute blocks for smaller things. I didn’t think I’d get much done in five minutes, but in the last month I’ve written 10,000 words on a non-fiction piece, five minutes at a time. I’ve finished two outlines and a short story, also in five minute stretches.

After scheduling my writing block, I jot down all the chores I MUST do for the day. This is a farm, so that’s a good chunk of time. Then I block off time for my horses.

Most importantly, I have a small block of time that is mine. I can do whatever it is that I want to do that day in that block and be completely guilt free.

Then I set myself one extra goal.

That’s it. I still don’t always finish everything, but I have things prioritized, and I don’t go to bed before I’ve finished the writing work for the day. So I fell behind, but with this system in place, my productivity has soared in the last month, so much so that by the end of the week I will easily surpass where I should have been without falling behind. Best of all, there is no guilt involved.

Cheers,

Michelle