Writing: A Study in Time Management

I ran across a blog on Writer's Digest several days ago entitled How to Write While Managing a Full-Time Job: 5 Ways to Maximize your time.  If you follow me on Twitter you might have seen me retweet it.  Anyway, as I was reading this I kept thinking to myself "I DO THIS!"  It is so very similar to what I have written in my previous blogs that either this guy is stalking me or he is a fellow genius. :-)

So, here are his 5 Ways to maximizing writing time (abbreviated) and how they relate to me (and my blog):

1) Never ever ever leave the house without a way to record your ideas.  I can't find where I have specifically mentioned this in a previous blog but I carry my MacBook, iPad and iPhone with me everywhere I go (as well as a notebook and pencil).  Yes, it's probably overkill but I have used them all for note taking purposes.

2) Take advantage of small moments.  I talked about this in my blog post "What can you do in twenty minutes?"  I often write in short spurts now.  I feel like I get more done this way than trying to write for hours at a time.

3) If you can’t give it your best, then give it what you can.  I talked about this in my blog post "Take the good with the bad."  I'm sure that's not the only time I've mentioned this since it is a common occurrence.  Good writing doesn't come all the time.  Sometimes you're lucky to walk away with anything useful.

4) Train your mind to think like a writer.  This one I mentioned very recently in the blog post "So you want to be a writer."  Actually, this particular blog post mentions most of these points.  Anyway, once you train yourself to think like a writer you start seeing plots in everything!  This is very helpful for getting new story ideas.

5) Make writing a priority.  I have talked about this many times, I believe, but my favorite was in the blog post "How bad do you want it?"  I actually don't still get up that early to write (which I discussed in a more recent blog entry) because caring for an infant is exhausting and I just cannot get up that early anymore.  Maybe one day...but for now, I do most of my writing at night.

All true.  I can vouch for it.

Let the Games Begin!!!

Ok, so I gave in and decided to write the short story for the Writer's Digest Competition.  I don't think I really ever had a choice.  This character's story has been in my mind for about a year and a half now just itching to get out.  I actually feel a sense of relief that I'm getting it on paper.

I managed to write over 1300 words (out of the 4000 max) in what totaled to be about an hour and a half this weekend.  I'm doing fairly well but I'm sure I will have to pare it down when I finish.

I can say that I have learned something from this experience though.  I've never before written while trying to use as few words as possible.  Writing a short story is certainly an exercise in brevity.

Assuming I have something worth submitting on May 6th, I will be entering the competition.

Game on.

Temptation in the Form of a Writing Competition

So, I got an email the other day from Writer's Digest about their annual writing competition.  Immediately I began plotting a story in my head.  However, I am wavering on whether or not to enter.  I barely have time to revise the novel I have written.  Now I'm considering using what little spare time I have on another story?

But, contest beckons me...

IF I enter it will be in the Genre Short Story category.  This category has a maximum of 4000 words.  I could do that in my sleep (perhaps literally).

The story I have concocted is actually a prequel to my novel.  My main character is a minor character in my novel.  This short story will be his backstory.

The "story" part is cheesecake.  The "short" part may pose a problem.  I'm not sure I can successfully write an entire paranormal romance story in less than 4000 words.

We shall see.

Epic Fail, News and Reading

I have failed in my goal to blog at least once a week.  I have no excuse except that my day job has literally been sucking the life out of me for the last two weeks.  Seriously, I think I may have lost a couple of years off my life because of it.

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the revisions to my novel due to the constant life-sucking that is my day job but I have made some progress.  Some.

In other news there is something BIG going on right now!  My favorite YA series is being made into a movie!  That's right, Vampire Academy (of Richelle Mead fame) is going to be a movie!!!  Squee!!!  They just cast the main characters this week!  I love, love, love the Vampire Academy series and can't wait for the movie(s)!

Know what else I love? Larissa Ione's Lords of Deliverance Series!  I just finished the first book, Eternal Rider, and can't wait to get started on the second!  I know I'm behind the times, the fourth book just came out in November!

I also just realized that I apparently have a love affair with exclamation marks...not sure what that says about me.  Just go with it.