by LuAnn Schindler
So...imagine my surprise when I check Google calendar this evening at 7-something and see that I am The Muffin's blogger today. Oops! When I checked Google calendar last week, it wouldn't load in my browser, and I figured I would check it later. Combine that with the hectic holidays and guess what, the surprise is on me. It happens. I'm only human.
Do you find yourself doing the same thing when it comes time to write? Do daily tasks and life's hurdles stand between you and scheduled writing time? It happens to me all the time, but I schedule office hours and for the 99 percent of the time, I stick to it. It isn't always easy, especially since my husband works on his family's dairy farm, I substitute teach (I start a six-week stint on January 5), I coach competitive speech (at the high school I taught at for five years before I got married...and it is 60 miles from our house), and we strive to find "our" time.
The important thing is that no matter how busy you find yourself, you must make time to write. This is especially true if you depend on writing to help pay the bills! Five minute spurts will become my normal routine in just a few days, but with careful planning and a supportive husband, I will still meet my deadlines.
And now, I'm off to open presents with my grandson and two of my daughters. They just arrived for our holiday celebration, and tomorrow brings the final festivities for this holiday season.
I need the break! And then, back to writing.
Hi Luann-
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your post. This is so often what happens to me! The key, I believe, is being kind to ourselves when we miss the mark, then gently ease back into our routine—without guilt, of course! In my household, I've got to send a college-aged daughter back to school before more writing time is mine. That's just the way things are right now...
FYI, I've posted an article at DivineCaroline.com that addresses this very issue. The article is titled, 5 Success Tips for Self-Employed Women. I agree with you. Keeping "office hours" definitely helps!
Here's to 5 minute increments!
Blessings to you.
Janice,
ReplyDeleteI tried to find your article, but was unsuccessful. Maybe you could send me the link directly to the article.
I use an external hard drive to back up everything. Sometimes when I'm in a hurry, I just drag the whole C drive onto the external hard drive. I really need to go in and clean the external hard drive, I have a lot of duplication. But I just bought a new one and I still have lots of space on the first one. I like to double back-up some things.