Changes

Technically summer isn't over until September 21, but for my kids and I it ends tomorrow as they go back to school. As summer moves to fall and leaves change color and the temperature turns cooler, I have to find a new schedule for my writing.

Mostly during the summer I wait until everyone goes to bed, the house grows quiet and I sit down to write. I can go for a few hours before sleep takes me. Now, though, if I'm not in bed at a decent hour waking up to take the kids to school is a disaster. So I tend to change my schedule to writing in the mornings after I've dropped them off.

This got me thinking about the importance of schedule and how it effects my writing. I remember when I first started writing, it was all about the mood. I would say things like, "Oh the mood isn't striking me." Or I might say, "I can't just make myself write whenever, it won't be good." Now I take a more studious approach to it. If I sit down everyday and put something on paper eventually things start happening. The blank pages used to scare me(still do sometimes), but I have learned that I am responsible for my progression in my writing career and no one else is going to sit down and get these stories out and perfect them.

I think part of this progression was getting myself on a schedule. I knew at a certain time I was supposed to be writing. If I was doing something else I could guilt myself into sitting down instead of allowing excuses to be made. Yes at times I would type one word an hour, but at least I was writing. I finished one novel this way and am on my way to completing another, so for me at least having a schedule works. 

Has anyone else found having a schedule works for them or do you write when you can? What works best for you?

Anyway have fun and keep writing.