I spent 20 years in the military — the U.S. Air Force. And during that time I learned a lot of things. One thing they stressed was time management. When Uncle Sam says a project needs to be done by a certain date, it better be! If you weren’t good at time management, it meant you stayed after duty hours to work on the project. If you had good skills, you went home when everyone else did. Somehow I managed to be in the latter group. Continue reading “Writing and Real Life: Juggling Your Time”
Tag: writer’s life
Stop Writing. Right Now!
Between 2011 and 2017 I wrote and published seven books. I’m not a fast writer, in fact compared to many authors I write quite slowly. I ponder and I stare out of windows. Then, I write and I rewrite. In fact, my methodology is to start over at the beginning of my work-in-progress each time I sit down to write. I know, it’s masochistic, but it’s what I do.
During those years, writing became an almost daily part of my life. I even quit my day job for a short period of time to write full-time. When that didn’t go as planned and I went back to the daily grind, I still managed to put some words together and create some books. I’d put in my eight-hour days at the office and I’d write on days off and evenings. It worked out fine. Then, last year I stopped writing. No more fiction. No more made-up stories spilling from my head onto the paper. I just stopped. Continue reading “Stop Writing. Right Now!”
Even Writers Need Self-Care
Most Indie writers cannot pay their bills by writing alone. We need additional sources of income to make ends meet. There are a lucky few for whom this is not necessary, but I think you may still find that you recognize yourself here.
I remember the days when we believed women could do it all. We could have careers, families, homes, even extra-curricular activities and volunteering. We carried them all off with aplomb and efficiency. We called these women Supermoms. When dads began to take share some of those activities, we all became Superparents. We believed in it. Until it didn’t work. Continue reading “Even Writers Need Self-Care”
Making Time for Writing and Rewriting AND Life
From the IU mailbox:
I love your advice about motivation, writing every day. Nevertheless, I finished the first draft of my novel last year and have been editing/rewriting it ever since. The 2-part question is: 1. When you say to write every day, how much does editing impinge on the time for writing, or does editing and writing count as the same thing, at least as far as the advice goes? 2. If I should be working on a new writing project to keep the writing juices flowing, how can I keep focused on finishing the editing of the first one as well, and not let it be just another abandoned project?
I believe this is a common issue with writers: how do we balance the many aspects of our work? Obviously we can’t simply write creatively all the time; once we’ve finished our first draft, the project still requires much tweaking and noodling. And does that tweaking and noodling “count” as writing? I’ll tell you how it all shakes out for me, and you can give us your take on it in the comments below. Continue reading “Making Time for Writing and Rewriting AND Life”