All We Have Is Time

Do you know where your story is? Carbo Load

All We Have Is Time

When you think about it, there’s really only one thing we have in this universe we can claim as our own: Time.

Everything else is fickle and transitory. One day a pauper, the next a king. You never know what tomorrow will bring except, you guessed it, more time.

But how to manage it?

In order to realize your NewNoWriMo goals, taking a few minutes of your precious time today to schedule your writing in February can be critical.

Since last week’s NewNoWriMo article was so long, I’m going to keep this one short and easy. Here’s a list of time management tips I use. I’ve also gleaned some of the best from the internet. Try a few or all of them.

Write during your most productive time of the day. If that happens to be at 4am, set yourself up so you can do that.
Put it on your calendar – with a pen. Block out an hour or two on your daily calendar for your writing, like you would for a class or doctor’s appointment.
Share your time commitments with close family members so they know you are busy during those times.
Put up a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign, if needed.
Ignore your phone and email. Answer the phone/emails outside of your writing time.
Disconnect from the internet. You can do it. Just pull the cable out of your desktop or turn off the WiFi on your laptop.
If you find yourself distracted during your allotted time slot, consider using a timer to keep you on task.

In case you were wondering, here’s what my weekly, writing schedule will look like in February, 2016:

Sunday – 4 hours, anytime
Monday – off
Tuesday – 2 hours, 7am to 9am
Wednesday – 1 hour, 8am to 9am
Thursday 2 hours, 7am to 9am
Friday – off
Saturday – 2 hours, anytime

That’s a total of 11 hours a week! If I manage to crank out 500 words an hour, that’s 5,500 per week or close to 22,000 words for the month. If I can do it, you can do it.

Until next week, write well.