Checking Your Schedule – Guest Blog
With less than a week to the next Book-in-a-week (BIW), I’d like to suggest to anyone who would like to do more that they check their life’s schedule as it exists now.
I didn’t used to have to worry much about time. Now I do. I’ve had such a load of chaos in my life for the past year plus that I’ve barely written at all (and that thanks to BIW making me focus). I refuse to let chaos rule. So a couple of weeks ago I did something that maybe more of the time-challenged need to.
I figured out just what kind of a schedule I really have now and where I can fence off writing time, at least for that week. Maybe one of those standard schedulers will work for you, but they make the silly assumption that people sleep at night and take weekends off. I had to make up my own in 15-minute blocks. Mine turns out to look more like this, when I combine blocks:
Tuesday (a day off)
writing time: 5.5 + 3 hrs = 8.5 hr
0000-0200 Sleeping in.
0200-0215 Wake up.
0215-0230 Have coffee.
0230-0245 Do e-mail.
0245-0315 Prep to write.
0230-0800 Free to write, with breaks.
0800-0830 Make dinner.
0830-0900 Eat dinner.
0900 Remove Gala’s food.
0900-1200 Free to write, with breaks, with breaks to do wash.
1200 Give Gala pill.
1200-1300 Relax.
1300-1400 Feed Gala; watch Mythbusters.
1400-1500 Relax.
1500-2400 Sleep.
Wednesday
writing time: 7.25 + 3 hrs = 10.25 hr
0000-0015 Wake up, if it takes an alarm..
0015-0030 Have coffee.
0030-0045 Do e-mail.
0045-0115 Prep to write.
0115-0800 Free to write, with breaks.
0800-0830 Make dinner.
0830-0900 Eat dinner.
0900 Remove Gala’s food.
0900-1200 Free to write, with breaks to do wash.
1200 Give Gala pill.
1200-1300 Relax.
1300-1400 Feed Gala; watch Mythbusters.
1400-2230 Sleep.
2230-2330 Get ready for job.
2330-2345 Drive to job.
Thursday
writing time: 1.75 + 2.25 + 2.25 hrs = 6.25 hr firm,
another .5 + 1.75 + 1 hrs = 3.25 opt. or semi-free
up to 9.5 hrs to write in, not to mention thinking on patrols
0000-0015 Prep for job
0025-0045 Patrol
0045-0235 free to write
0235-0255 Patrol
0255-0415 free to write
0415-0435 Patrol
0435-0505 kinda free to write
0505-0525 Patrol
0525-0700 kinda free to write
0730-0745 Patrick arrives; pack up; relief due.
0800 off, if relief timely
0815-0830 Drive home
0830-0845 shopping if necessary
0845-0900 Home; start dinner
0900-0915 Remove Gala’s food
0915-0945 Have dinner
0945-1200 free to write
1200 Give Gala pill
1200-1300 write or wind down
1300-1400 Feed Gala; watch Mythbusters.
1400-2230 Sleep.
2230-2330 Get ready for job.
2330-2345 Drive to job.
Notice that I scheduled in everything: medicating the cat, making and eating meals, doing wash, time to shop, the one TV show that feeds my head. (Hey, if you’re swimming 18″ under water, unless they’re right above you, you’re safe from being shot–something novelists need to know!) Oh, yeah, and when I actually have to work at my job. Really, we’re there mostly just in case and most of the time nothing happens on my one-person shift. It’s my own midnight kingdom with the moon and the dawn to watch, not to mention a beautiful morning star right now. All they care about until 0600 or so is that I just not fall asleep.
One copy of the schedule I’ll carry with me to remind me (no loitering at the store: get home to eat dinner and write) and post one copy here to remind my nearest and dearest. (This weekend I’m also turning a very large cereal box into a “Do Not Disturb” sign that can sit up anywhere around me.)
Give it a shot. You may find more time than you thought, or see how to re-schedule some things to leave more writing blocks free. You’ll have a hard-copy to consult to keep you on schedule. At the very least you won’t berate yourself for not writing much on days when you really don’t have time for more than three pages.
Hope this helps!