Right before I retired from teaching, i kept a time log and discovered, to my dismay, that I spent more time in committee meetings, working on accreditation, and dealing with other aspects of administrivia than I did either in the classroom or developing educational plans for my students.
Sometimes as writers, we can get into the same routine. We can spend time blogging, posting to our author pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads, etc. We take part in email discussion groups or go to writer's club meetings and conferences. And none of these things are bad in and of themselves, but I've been tracking my time again and I don't like what I see. I seem to be doing it again. I'm spending more time on the peripheral aspects of writing than I am on actual writing.
So, since this is the time for New Year's planning. (Resolutions are worthless without a plan to actualize them) I've decided in 2014 to increase my writing and decrease some of my ancillary activities.
I may have to reduce some of my social media presence. I may need to control myself when I want to spend an hour responding to something in an online writing group. Most important, I need to set and keep specific times for writing.
What are you planning to do in 2014 to keep the main thing THE MAIN THING in your writing?
Terri,
ReplyDeleteI've been contemplating my goals the last few days. I've even written 3 posts and am holding them for 2014 so I don't "waste" valuable writing time in January. How crazy is that?
I'm still contemplating 2014. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm not giving up.
I can't wait to see what your other readers have to say.
Merry Christmas!
Great reminder, Terri. I have spent most of my morning cleaning out emails & leaving FB groups that have never been a use to me. The entire morning when I could've been writing. There has to be an easier way to stay organized. I'm determined to find it & free up more writing time.
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