Tag: finding time to write

Am I back?!

Am I back?! I dunno. I’ve actually got time to work on my books, and first up is Spilling Blood episode 12. I had a fantastic start to this year, and then it came to an abrupt end when I started working pretty much six days a week for the Postal Service – and I’ve found it very difficult to find time for writing. My writing goals are shot, and while the year’s not a waste, it’s not the year I had in mind. In the past, it’s taken a complete one full day off to get my mind back into writing, and, well, here I am writing a quick blog post about it. 🙂

Regardless, today, hours (!!!) will be devoted toward getting Spilling Blood episode 12 finished and off to my proofreaders.

For my Spilling Blood fans, the wait will have been worth it. This episode is going to be about twice as long as any episodes from Seasons 1 and 2, and lots of vampire and werewolf action/horror. You’ll hear more about it as it gets closer to launch, but I’m going to set a goal of having this Season (and series?) wrapped up before Halloween ’16.

by Categories: Writing - GeneralTags: , , , , , 2 Comments

Life – It’s a Trap!

Sign up here to get an email when my next book is released: http://eepurl.com/bmlfdD

2ZEqehG9T6G14lzYgIiH_Horse LaptopIf you want to be able to pull off a writing routine, you need to have  a time frame that allows for life.

I say that because life keeps happening. That’s not me being witty or inspirational, it’s recognizing that I have writing goals, and a life that sometimes does not accommodate letting me write when I want to.

Yesterday, for example, I expected to have all day to write. I received a call from a friend to go painting. That’s fine, but I’d only just begun to write (8 am) and we would head out to paint at 9. That’s my fault because I think I can sometimes have leisurely writing days. The truth is, there is no such thing. There will always be interruptions. Maybe it’s your cat. Or Netflix. Or kids.

I don’t say no to painting because it’s a little extra money. Plus, I’ll be finishing the painting project today, which this time I’m ready for. However, starting tomorrow and going through all of next week (with the exception of Sundays), there are mail carriers going on vacation locally which means I will be working full time.

As you can expect, my writing time is severely compromised. With a goal of 4k+ words, I need 2 hours of time. Afternoon? Possibly, but I usually just want to crash. My time is the morning, so therefore I’ve got to adjust to getting up earlier… in this case, 4 am.

I usually waste bout an hour reading blogs and writing my own blog post, with a little bit of browsing social media. That’s my wake-up time. After that, I can usually move on to writing. The later I get up, the better my chances are of being interrupted. There is only one mostly safe window of opportunity to write for me, and that is early.

Even if I hate getting up sometimes.

So there’s the battle, juggling writing and life, because it’s not always easy to have both. I call myself a writer because it’s what I do. More importantly, it’s what I want to do. Therefore, I’ll make the time.

Word Counts

2/2/16 Word Count: 855 (ave. 1,580 wph) Editing: 30 minutes

Hungry Gods 3 +0. 52,925/50,000

Time Travel Novel +790 3,781/50,000

Spilling Blood ep. 12 +0 9,262/15,000

Pen Name Short Story #3 +0 1,374/5,000

Pen Name Book +0. 22,874/20,000 Editing

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 21,648/20,000 Editing

Pen Name Short Story #2 +65. 5,426/5,000 Editing

February Word Count: 6,055

January Word Count: 103,398

For Year: 109,453

2016 Completed Projects: Spilling Blood 11, Short Story.

Join me on Twitter and/or Facebook.

patreon

by Categories: Writing - GeneralTags: , , , Leave a comment

Finding Time to Write

Sign up here to get an email when my next book is released: http://eepurl.com/bmlfdD

coldSometimes it’s hard to find time to write. Sometimes though, it’s not a matter of finding time to write, but restructuring how you spend the time you do have.

What are your distractions? For me, I like to read through articles on writing (the stuff I share all over Twitter), check my email for anything good, and scroll through Facebook and Twitter. Managing the amount of time I spend reading on the internet is my first step to getting more writing in. I need a solid two hours of writing to hit my goals. If I know I only have three hours before my day starts, I have to remind myself that I can read articles tomorrow. Plus, there’s always time to check out social media – watching tv, in the bathroom, while pretending to listen to someone’s conversation…. etc…)

Determine Your Time to Write. For me, the best time to write is in the mornings, because my family doesn’t get up as early as I do. That usually gets me a few hours of focus. Sometimes I’ll push to get up as early as 4:30, which usually turns into 5 or later, but I try. 🙂 Writing at night works too, but this is time I try to reserve for spending time with my family.

Steal Time to Write. I admit, this is my hardest thing to do. I would like to chunk out extra words throughout the day, but I rarely do. To be successful at this, you either have to find time to sneak away to your computer, or make use of other tools such as :

  • Get a tablet with a keyboard. Quick to set up, use almost anywhere.
  • Same for laptops, though I made the mistake of getting a large one, so I tend not to take it with me everywhere.
  • Voice dictation into your  phone (not fond of this, but it’s an option). I may one day look into getting a handheld voice recorder to use with Dragon Naturally Speaking, because I’ve heard a lot of people have success with it. And I often do a lot of driving by myself during the week.
  • Use something like an Alphasmart. That’s a really old keyboard with memory that stores writing. No distractions at all. The only problem with mine is you have to type hard, and there’s a lot of spelling errors because of it.  However, I wrote all of Spilling Blood Season 1 on it.

Yesterday was another rough day for writing, but I knew it would be. Got in 30 minutes and moved the story line along on Hungry Gods 3. Really, as long as I get in some writing, it’s a good day, right?

Today I’ve got some time to make a difference, so I plan on finishing the first draft of Spilling Blood episode 11.

Word Counts

1/9/16 Word Count: 1,012 (ave. 2,024 wph)

Hungry Gods 3 +1,012. 19,424/60,000

Spilling Blood 11 +0. 16,449/15,000

Apocalypse Witch 3 +0. 15,020/20,000

Pen Name Book +0. 4,679/20,000

January Word Count: 29,094

For Year: 29,094

2016 Completed Projects: Short Story.

Join me on Twitter and/or Facebook.

patreon

by Categories: Writing - GeneralTags: , Leave a comment