WOW! Women On Writing Blog: maximizing time for writers

Saturday, March 09, 2019

Recently, I've been thinking about how to make some changes in my life to lead me where I want to be in my career and how I want to be as a parent--or really, looking at the big picture: what I want my entire life to look like. One of the things I feel on pretty much a daily basis is OVERWHELM. I feel like there's so much to do at my day job, with my editing business, as a parent, in my house, with my friends and boyfriend, and I want to do it all--well, okay, there are a few things I don't want to do like clean the toilet, but I have to--and I constantly go around complaining about how I'm overwhelmed. My ever-growing to-do and idea lists never seem to shrink.

The one thing that I can do, and that I've done successfully two days out of five this past week, is protect my work time. If I don't want to be crazy, stressed out, tired mom, then I need to work while my daughter is at school and after-school care. Sure, this is also a great time to go out to lunch, to get grocery shopping done, to chat with friends, to take phone calls from my parents, etc etc. But I started to notice that on those days when I had scheduled some "non-work" tasks, I was usually crabby and more stressed out; I even felt bad about myself and my failure to accomplish my goals.

I would sit around in the evening and ask myself: what is wrong with me? Will I ever make progress? How come I can't finish anything? Does everybody else work this long? But if I really looked at my day and all the time I spent doing things other than working, the answer was pretty clear.

I wasn't staying focused. I'm easily distracted by bright, shiny objects. I"m not working when I should be, and this is the reason why sometimes I'm finishing projects at 4:30 am in the morning or after the deadline, not reaching my goals, and feeling stuck.

This week I said ENOUGH. I wrote a list of my priorities on a piece of white paper and used a blue Sharpie marker (man, I love those things) and stuck that list in my underwear drawer. Why there? Well, I'll look at it every day when I get new underwear out (or at least I should! I try not to have typical "work-from-home" hygiene habits, wink, wink), but the priority list's not hanging out for the world to see--I don't want anyone arguing with me about my priorities--that is private.

Now, before I say yes to something, I'm thinking: Is this a priority OR does this get in the way of a priority? (I have only been doing this for 2 days, so I'm no expert yet.) Before I answer a message during work hours or schedule an appointment, I ask myself if it fits with this change I'm making in my life. If the answer is yes, then I do it. If the answer is no, then I'm saying no--I'm protecting my work time. I am saying yes to my priorities.

It's an absolute myth that we can do it all and do it well. Yes, we can do it all if we do it half-way and look like a stressed-out, exhausted version of ourselves.

Whatever your creativity time is--whether it's two hours in the morning, four hours at night, or all day, protect that time. And then, know when you need a break--because that's important, too. But that's another blog post for another day, or you can watch The Shining and see how all work and no play worked out for Jack Nicholson's character.

Protect your precious creativity time like a toddler protecting her favorite stuffed animal from the grubby hands of other toddlers! How do you do it?

Margo L. Dill is a single mom, writer, editor, and teacher, living in St. Louis, MO. Her day job is as an editorial assistant for Farm Journal, and her other jobs are working her own business, Editor 911, and helping out at WOW! as much as she can! If you want to take a class with Margo, check that out here. To learn more about her, go to her website here.

1 comment balance, Creativity, Margo L. Dill, maximizing time for writers, time for writing

The Four-Letter Word In the Writing World

Thursday, September 28, 2017

So I was sitting on the floor going through binder after binder of my writings, throwing stuff in the toss or save piles. Until I came to an old Atlanta Journal Constitution from 2007 where I saw an essay I’d written, one I didn’t remember. I took a break and read it.

I expected to cringe. I mean, that was ten years ago and I had a lot to learn back in the early writing days. But as I read, I smiled. This Cathy C. Hall opinion was not bad. Actually, it was pretty good. Which made me wonder: how did my writing improve so quickly?

Quickly, of course, is a relative term here. I’d been writing for a couple of years before 2007. And when I started writing for children, it was nearly five years before I had a book published. See, writing is all about that four letter word: T-I-M-E. Time is not exactly on our side, but there are ways to maximize it.

Write regularly. Any successful writer will tell you that practice makes perfect. Still, regularly means different things to different people and so what the pros generally mean when they say “regularly” is “daily.”

But in the real world, we don’t always get to write every day. We just don’t have time. So is your writing career doomed before it ever takes off? Nah. Because when it comes to writing, it’s more about stick-to-it-ness.

It’s okay if you don’t write every day. Maybe twice a week is all you can handle, or even once a week, or at the most once every two weeks. But stick to a time schedule because that’s how you build on the progress you make. (And don’t worry that you might only have 30 minutes at a time. Write regularly, whatever you can regularly schedule, and quantity will take care of itself.)

Improve your craft. Taking a writing class is not new advice, but when you take a class can make all the difference.

What we want to do with our sparkly new manuscript is jump right in! Query it! Sell it! Publish it! I know because that’s what I did with my first children’s manuscript. But we don’t always know what we don’t know until it’s too late.

So curb your enthusiasm a bit and start out with basic writing classes, the ones that will introduce you to the information you need as well as the craft you need. Once you’ve mastered how to write what you want to write, then is the time to take those advanced classes. Like the class on finding an agent, or indie publishing, or how to make the perfect pitch. Trust the process (and you’ll save yourself time and money).

Get professional feedback. Here’s a step I think too many writers skip because they have a critique group and feel like that’s feedback enough.

It’s not enough. Only professional feedback, the kind you can get from an agent, editor, publisher, or established author, will take your writing to the next level. You’ll find these professionals at conferences, or online offering their services, or in a class. And yes, it’s expensive, but getting professional feedback is a step for down the line, when your writing is ready. It’s not for the writer just starting out, though I’ve known plenty of writers who have spent the money for a professional critique at the wrong time only to be in tears. Including this professional writer.

Time will always be a four-letter word. But it doesn’t always have to work against you. Give yourself time to grow into the writer you can and want to be. It’s so worth the wait!

Cathy C. Hall is a kidlit author and humor writer. She's currently working on a middle grade novel and trying to keep to her schedule! (Her latest release is Great Leaders of the World, from Darakwon in South Korea. Read all about it here!)