Tag Archives: writing schedule

Technique

NaNo success: scheduling

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NaNoWriMo can be a pretty crazy time—crazier if you don’t plan ahead. No matter when you do it, doubling or even tripling your work time isn’t easy, at least not if you’d like your life to, you know, not fall apart.

Planning in advance is one key to making it through Nano without alienating everyone around you. Plotting your book, of course, helps, since you don’t have to stop to ponder where your story is going next and how you’ll get there.

But there’s another kind of planning that can make or break your Nano productivity: your schedule. For me, I went through and wrote down everything that I needed to do in a day to keep the rest of my life from falling apart (and if my life falls apart, my three kids’ and my husband’s lives most likely will, too, and that’s not fair to them, no matter what month it is). We’re talking meals, face time with my kids, and the bare minimum housekeeping tasks. I also wrote out some things I need to do weekly and monthly, and a few one-off tasks I need to finish (Christmas shopping for our Christmas-at-Thanksgiving celebration).

I assigned a time for the daily and weekly housekeeping tasks—and I found I had a surprising amount of time left for writing once my schedule was in place—and if I follow the schedule, not only does it afford me more writing time, but my house actually runs better and can even be cleaner than it normally is!

But now I have to be careful not to squander that work time. My friend Kathleen Brebes won Nano 2010 in thirteen days and she had some tips on scheduling for success:

A big helper to finishing my novel in thirteen days was that I had made a pact with myself not sign on to the internet until my daily writing was complete; I didn’t even check AI stats [our writing group] or Nano stats until my daily writing was finished. But, I did keep up with my daily housework schedule and DayMinder Agenda. However, the second week of Nano, I didn’t walk or lift weights; I only stretched daily. And, I made sure not to neglect my spiritual and familial commitments.

from A Succor for Writing . . . by Kathleen Brebes: Succor: My First NaNoWriMo.

Now, if a first-time Wrimo can hit the goal in 13 days—and still make time to keep her house running smoothly—I hope we can all get inspiration from that.

What do you do to keep on your writing schedule? What do you let slip—and what can’t you let slip?

Photo by Dru Bloomfield

Originally from Nano 2011

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Technique

NaNo success: scheduling

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This entry is part 3 of 16 in the series NaNoWriMo success and inspiration

NaNoWriMo can be a pretty crazy time—crazier if you don’t plan ahead. No matter when you do it, doubling or even tripling your work time isn’t easy, at least not if you’d like your life to, you know, not fall apart.

Planning in advance—or RIGHT THIS MINUTE if you haven’t already—is one key to making it through Nano without alienating everyone around you. Plotting, of course, helps, since you don’t have to stop to ponder where your story is going next and how you’ll get there.

But there’s another kind of planning that can make or break your Nano productivity: your schedule. For me, I went through and wrote down everything that I needed to do in a day to keep the rest of my life from falling apart (and if my life falls apart, my three kids’ and my husbands’ lives most likely will, too, and that’s not fair to them, no matter what month it is). We’re talking meals, face time with my kids, and the bare minimum housekeeping tasks. I also wrote out some things I need to do weekly and monthly, and a few one-off tasks I need to finish (Christmas shopping for our Christmas-at-Thanksgiving celebration).

I assigned a time for the daily and weekly tasks—and I found I had a surprising amount of time left for writing once my schedule was in place—and if I follow the schedule, not only will it afford me more writing time, but my house will actually run better and possibly even be cleaner than it normally is!

But now I have to be careful not to squander that work time. My friend Kathleen Brebes won Nano last year in thirteen days and she had some tips on scheduling for success:

A big helper to finishing my novel in thirteen days was that I had made a pact with myself not sign on to the internet until my daily writing was complete; I didn’t even check AI stats [our writing group] or Nano stats until my daily writing was finished. But, I did keep up with my daily housework schedule and DayMinder Agenda. However, the second week of Nano, I didn’t walk or lift weights; I only stretched daily. And, I made sure not to neglect my spiritual and familial commitments.

from A Succor for Writing . . . by Kathleen Brebes: Succor: My First NaNoWriMo.

Now, if a first-time Wrimo can hit the goal in 13 days—and still make time to keep her house running smoothly—I hope we can all get inspiration from that.

What do you do to keep on your writing schedule? What do you let slip—and what can’t you let slip?

Photo by Dru Bloomfield

Is your writing any good? Join my writers' email group to find out how you can get a free edit & skill assessment!

 
Technique, Works

“Making” time

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I think anybody who’s really made an effort to write understands that it’s not about wishing you had the time, or even finding the time, but making the time to write.

With three kids under five, free time is a joke. My efforts to make time to write are hurting my well-being and my family. (This is because that made time never seems to start until 11 PM, and Baby has a special “Mommy’s exhausted” alarm clock that rings at 5:30AM.) (And 2AM.) (And midnight.)

So I’m thinking it’s time for a change. For a long time, I’ve been attracted to the idea of getting up early to get most of my writing in. I love the idea of having a thousand or more words written by the time the kids attack get up. (I also like the idea of actually being out of bed before they get up 😉 .)

So last night, when I was up too late already, I saw Kelly Stone’s guest post about writing schedules. And the early morning schedule was the very first one listed (of seven—seven different writing schedule options).

So I’ve undertaken the challenge, starting this morning. (Ooooor not. That special “Mommy’s exhausted alarm” kicked in from 12-1AM and 5-6AM, and that pretty much killed the what I thought was very reasonable 7 AM wake-up time.) As part of my challenge, I’m going to make myself accountable to report on what time I actually get up (and what I do thereafter). I’ll Tweet about it (I know, that really makes you want to follow me) and put a note in a post if I’m blogging that day.

Do you have a goal for your writing schedule? Have you ever tried to change?

Photo by Grant MacDonald

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