The Whining of the Writer

Warning: The following is a series of complaints made by yours truly and may mimic the sound of crying babies, whimpering puppies, and other sounds that express the feeling of being upset and are yet sometimes annoying. Read at your own discretion.

Hi, my name is Sarah and I reign over the Land of Lazy as Princess Procrastinator. Lately though, I've been thinking of resigning. *insert gasps from the Lazy natives*

Yeah, it's true. Procrastinating just isn't working out for me anymore. At the risk of sounding like a child, school has gotten really hard. Especially for a procrastinator. The further behind I let stuff fall at school, the more time that I have to spend getting it done again. And you know what has suffered as a cause to that? My writing.

Aside from school stuff and blog posts, I don't think I've written anything new in awhile. My poor, half edited, Nano 09 novel sits in my writing bag waiting for the return of my pen. It probably doesn't know who wrote it anymore. *sigh* I also have three shorts in mind, two of which have been started and one on the back burner of my brain.

So I hereby vow to work on my time management. During the daytime hours I will do everything school related. After dinner I will do what I want, writing and so forth. It has been decreed... (Because royalty are always decreeing something right?)

How do you all handle writing time and other priorities?

By the way, still looking for a challenge on the Poetry Slam for this Monday. Have a suggestion? Let me know. Leave a comment! :)

Life of a Student Writer

Here we are once again, another school year has begun. Students all over the world are gearing up, excited to see their friends, and then immediately counting the number of days till next summer. Parents, on the other hand, are kindly waiting till their children are out the door to do the happy dance.

What does this do for a writer though? I just finished my first week at a new university. Exciting? Yeah. Tiring? YES. It’s all I can do to be writing this post instead of going limp on the couch. Plus it’s the first time I have to travel any distance to get to school. Add the travel time to the other obligations the day requires plus homework, studying, extra credit that you know you need, random life occurrences, and what’s that thing that most people do every day? Uh, oh that’s right, eating and sleeping. I forgot about those.

This is where I want to give parent/writers a big, virtual, gold star. Now, I’m not a parent but this is what I imagine a day might be like. Get kids up, get kids dressed, feed kids, make lunches, get kids to school, grocery shopping, changing diapers, coming home, clean house, get kids from school, take kids somewhere, bring them back, make sure homework is done, bathe them, stop fights, argue, hug, change, and put them to bed. Did I get everything? Probably not. Moms and Dads have a lot on their plates.

That being said, where do we put our writing time? It’s a little tough when something in our real life is constantly calling our attention and if we don’t time it right then something gets the short end of the stick. Too much attention to writing can cause school work to slip our minds. A late night means getting to class late and not being able to pay attention. I know I do that.

This is what I told myself about my schedule: Do things early. Simpler said than done, I know, but hear me out. If I can do my homework during my break between classes instead of waiting till I got home I’ll have the time when I get home to write. Study a little everyday instead of hardcore studying the week before the test. Cook meals ahead of time so all you have to do is pull things out of the fridge or the freezer and heat it up. Give it a try.

Have you tried this before? Did it give you more time? What do you give up for your writing time?