Time, time, time, see what’s become of me....
This week it’s all about time and the battle for creative space.
Either bloggers and friends (and blogger friends ) are moaning about time suck or they are being held up as super people, for being super busy and still managing to write their novel, thereby showing the rest of us up.
So how do you set a realistic achievable goal of carving out space to be creative..? What has to give?
This question is one of the tough ones... right up there with global peace, renewable energy targets and finding the missing puzzle piece in my child’s room.
First, think seriously about what activities you are doing in your life? Can you drop something and devote that time to writing? If so great.
If not...Is there down time that you can mine....waiting in the car for children to finish activities... (I try to scribble plot points and scenes down in my writing pad...when stuck with this activity.)
Can you get up earlier... go to bed later....? (heck no... family will complain as monster from hell needs 8 hours at least.)
Unplug the phone...disconnect the internet....shut the door on the world...gag the preschooler...
When you do find the time then you have to have the dedicated space...it helps if you have a regular writing corner... (move the washing from it...) now sit down and WRITE.
AND STILL THOSE LITTLE DISTRACTIONS KEEP INTERFERING....
What to do...
Well Dr Wicked has the answer.
Shelftalker recently profiled the WRITE OR DIE programme from Dr Wicked.
You can use Write or Die for free online, or pay $10 and download the program. The download version has some perks: customizable font and font color, a fullscreen mode, the ability to keep the window on top of all other windows. You can also choose to disable certain functions on your computer—like the backspace button—to further motivate you to keep writing. No backspacing! Ack! That’s great for those endless line-by-line polishers who never seem to make it to the second chapter, or the ends of their novels; not that I personally have any experience with that. Ahem.You can also alter the consequences. Oh, okay, I’ll spill a little here. Let’s say you stop typing for more than five seconds. You can either stick with the violin skreeks or crying babies Dr. Wicked has programmed into Write or Die to annoy you back into writing, or you can set up something even worse: for example, an mp3 of a song you hate..
Shelftalker also profiles another programme that freezes up your computer only allowing you to do certain applications...available for Apple users called Freedom.
If you are being honest with yourself and you find that writing is giving way to social media exploration here are a few tips from Social Media Examiner that can help you deal with social media to stop it being a time suck...basically decide what you want and why. They also have a nifty post on finding the time to take part in social media....
It is a great day when I get an hour to write but I do feel happier... the unfolded laundry, and dusty surfaces are justified because I was WRITING.
and ten points on the oneupmanship scale if you recognise the first words of this post.....
