IWSG

This is a great group formed of people who are willing to share their insecurities and/or offer hope for people out there struggling with their own. If you'd like to join up click here.

I had a few ideas about what I should write for this month.  Ultimately, something that I have been working toward getting just right, for quite some time, seemed like the best thing to talk about.

The most important thing a writer can learn in the their journey is how to manage their time. A lot goes on in our lives and as many of us tend to be procrastinators anyway, putting off writing seems to be the first thing we do. 

What is the answer? For me the answer has always been...dun dun duuuuuuh...a scheduled routine. I know, I shudder even as I write it. Still, if we want to be the writer that gets their books done, that grows in their craft and finally gets our books(or whatever you are working on) out to people that will love it, we need to write.

So, what makes for a good schedule? It is a hard thing to get down. Life tends to be a fluid thing and changes a lot. 

The other thing we have to keep in mind is, writers tend to be two people at once. The person that wants more than anything to sit their butts in that chair and write out their thoughts. At the same time, the person that would rather do anything but sit in that chair and write.

So, the first step in a good schedule is—fluidity. If the schedule is too tight then when things get crazy the whole system falls apart. You have to have goals set out for the day, but make sure they can fit around other things that may come up. 

Second, be forgiving not failing. If you miss something in your set schedule don't beat yourself up and feel you failed. That eventually leads people to say that the "schedule thing" doesn't work. Instead forgive yourself and move to the next thing.

Third, give projects and be specific. It is perfectly fine to spend your writing time researching. In fact it is a great use of time, but be sure you are researching a particular thing. All too often a general research for writing can easily go like this. "Hmm, let's do some research. Okay the history of the Slavic people is interesting. Oh they had cats. Youtube has cat videos. I should post this awesome cat vid on Facebook. They said what on Facebook? I got to tweet that. Oh man Twitter you got some awesome pics I need to post this on Tumbler...."

Last in the list is—time. No schedule is perfect the first few days(weeks, months). The thing that makes a schedule work is time. The more you do something the easier it becomes to do it. Soon your schedule is your life not something you are making yourself do. 


Something else cool going on today is Our fearless ninja leader's book CassaFire is 99c today. You can get your copy here. 






Anyway, I hope some of this helps. As always, have fun and keep writing.