Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "time-management"
What Do You Need for Your Writing?
I'm traveling, and I often talk to people along the way about being a writer. A motel clerk yesterday mentioned that she would like to write but claimed she doesn't have the patience for it. That got me thinking. What does it take--beside talent--to be a writer?
Patience is one thing, I suppose. It takes a long time and a lot of focus for a novel to get written. The idea for a novel, which everyone supposedly has in his head, doesn't just float onto paper or into a file. It's hard work to sit and make it happen, and a lot of the BITCH (butt in the chair, honey) is required.
I find that I need a chunk of semi-conscious think time. Driving or walking does it for me, but it works best if it's long-term. Car trips like the one I'm on are particularly valuable as I try out different scenarios, let my characters talk to me, and invent the antagonists who will make their lives difficult in the next book.
Ironically, I cannot write all that down on a road trip. I can make notes. I scribble on paper in the car (hubby drives, don't panic). I transfer those notes to the computer at night in whatever hotel room I inhabit. But I can't settle down and write. That takes extended time and a focused mindset.
I have friends who can write for an hour, even fifteen minutes on their lunch break. That isn't me.
After this trip, I plan to schedule several days of concentrated writing, putting everything I've been thinking about to work.
It's how I roll.
Patience is one thing, I suppose. It takes a long time and a lot of focus for a novel to get written. The idea for a novel, which everyone supposedly has in his head, doesn't just float onto paper or into a file. It's hard work to sit and make it happen, and a lot of the BITCH (butt in the chair, honey) is required.
I find that I need a chunk of semi-conscious think time. Driving or walking does it for me, but it works best if it's long-term. Car trips like the one I'm on are particularly valuable as I try out different scenarios, let my characters talk to me, and invent the antagonists who will make their lives difficult in the next book.
Ironically, I cannot write all that down on a road trip. I can make notes. I scribble on paper in the car (hubby drives, don't panic). I transfer those notes to the computer at night in whatever hotel room I inhabit. But I can't settle down and write. That takes extended time and a focused mindset.
I have friends who can write for an hour, even fifteen minutes on their lunch break. That isn't me.
After this trip, I plan to schedule several days of concentrated writing, putting everything I've been thinking about to work.
It's how I roll.
Five Minutes of Your Time
It always turns into a lot more. A quick note from a librarian: "Can you send us infor on your historical costume?" No sweat, I think. But suddenly half an hour is gone. And I could add....NO! Time to move on.
It's true that things expand to fit the time allotted for them, but it's also true that things just expand. Nothing happens as quickly as I think it will when I sit down in this chair.
So here's my theory. Time is bendable, and the Internet has bent it double. Therefore it takes twice the time you expected to get anything done. That's it!
Or it could be all Facebook's fault. Silly videos! Well, maybe one more.
It's true that things expand to fit the time allotted for them, but it's also true that things just expand. Nothing happens as quickly as I think it will when I sit down in this chair.
So here's my theory. Time is bendable, and the Internet has bent it double. Therefore it takes twice the time you expected to get anything done. That's it!
Or it could be all Facebook's fault. Silly videos! Well, maybe one more.
On the Road Again
On the Road Again
In my dreams, a week dances tantalizingly just over the horizon. This week is filled with nothing. No appointments, no road trips, no phone calls. In my dream, I work at one of my three computers (the sitting down at the desk one, the standing up when my back is tired one, and the go-anywhere laptop one) all day, every day, and at the end of the week book #3 of the Simon & Elizabeth series, which is in bits and pieces at this moment, melds into a seamless story with a beginning, a middle, and and end that makes perfect sense for the reader.
That's the dream. Last fall, I promised myself January through March for writing, since we decided not to travel this winter. I'm not sure where January and February went, but March is speeding by and I've got
not one, but two trips on the docket.
So what do I do about those promises to stay home and write? I will do what most authors I know do: write in short bursts, take every available moment to get the story told, work to make it come together when I can.
And plan for a new dream: that April, May, or even June will provide that empty week that dances just ahead of me, tempting but always just out of reach.
In my dreams, a week dances tantalizingly just over the horizon. This week is filled with nothing. No appointments, no road trips, no phone calls. In my dream, I work at one of my three computers (the sitting down at the desk one, the standing up when my back is tired one, and the go-anywhere laptop one) all day, every day, and at the end of the week book #3 of the Simon & Elizabeth series, which is in bits and pieces at this moment, melds into a seamless story with a beginning, a middle, and and end that makes perfect sense for the reader.
That's the dream. Last fall, I promised myself January through March for writing, since we decided not to travel this winter. I'm not sure where January and February went, but March is speeding by and I've got
not one, but two trips on the docket.
So what do I do about those promises to stay home and write? I will do what most authors I know do: write in short bursts, take every available moment to get the story told, work to make it come together when I can.
And plan for a new dream: that April, May, or even June will provide that empty week that dances just ahead of me, tempting but always just out of reach.
