A Matter of Time and Time Matters

After years of not punching in and out on a time clock, I'm back on the clock! Using Klok Personal Time Tracking software has made time tracking EASY and has tripled my writing productivity.

I have added other tasks to track, such as blogging, decluttering, etc. There's a timesheet view, to check progress, as well as a chart view that depicts time each day and time spent on each timed project.

One of my favorite features is a drag and drop of the current project starts the timer for working on the project. When you finish a session, click the red stop button and the timer stops, so it's that simple to keep up with time spent on individual project tasks.

In the week view, I can see how much time I've spent on various task each day, with a total of how much time during each day worked.

Utilizing this software provides a means of accountability that has worked wonders for my schedule and for my progress, and the amazing thing is, I am accomplishing more writing-wise and otherwise.

Klok is an awesome tracking tool, one which I would definitely recommend!

Distractions & Dust Bunnies Galore

Dust bunnies, though deceptively cute, breed at an alarming speed.
 
Having traveled for a few days on a road trip with Hubby, with short infrequent daily stints set aside for first drafting, I returned home a few days ago with an initial chapter GMCD chart and three drafted chapters. With travel clothes to wash and dust bunnies that had tripled in number waiting, I am reestablishing a writing schedule, on alert to every nook and cranny in which conniving dust puffs hide and plot a takeover.

Once they get a chance to propagate, even triple their numbers, I'm telling you, there's no stopping them, while getting back on schedule remains evasive and just out of reach.

Perhaps I should name the creatures because at the rate they are multiplying, to at least be able to call them by name might be my only solace in surviving in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by dust bunnies in control of every nook and crevice of the earth. Wouldn't watching recorded episodes of Serial Killer Earth be less painful than reestablishing a writing routine?

Should try to make friends with the bunnies, but how can one trust something so cute, yet so bent on creeping out of the darkness and into the light? Should I implement short stints of writing to get back into the groove because due to the trip, I lost momentum first drafting. Getting focus back has been a struggle. I sit in front of the computer monitor, and I swear I hear those dust monsters giggle a maniacal trilling laugh.

The defense plan I must implement to regain control of the house and first drafting must be strategic and well thought out. The schedule to eradicate the little boogers and regain focus must be realistic and unrelenting, with stints of writing alternated with determined cleaning methods, I prepare for an outright assault. I must strike without warning and with fortified determination to regain lost ground.

Should I never be seen again, know that I went into battle determined to defend and conquer as a warrior writer and that I fought valiantly to the bitter end.

Regrouping - Drafting Versus Revision

Both First Drafting and Revision are focused and mentally taxing, so much so, that I am not easily making a successful transition between drafting and revising in a single day. Time to regroup.

This week, I will set aside three (3) days per week at my desk to revise, with four (4) days scheduled for first drafting.

This next week's short term goal is to sit at my desk and revise/edit a certain number of chapters within those three days, and write a certain number of chapters away from my desk, in the next four days.

During the last few months of writing full-time, I welcomed the flexibility to figure out what works best for me and my writing life. Pressing the regroup button. 1, 2. 3. Now.

Drama Belongs on the Page

Drama belongs on the page. Or the stage. Or in the movies. Not in my house or in my life. When I see others confuse and enmesh conflict and struggle with excitement and thrills, my standard response, just before excusing myself from the situation, is: "That's way too much drama for me."

As if drama were a moist, triple-chocolate cake with chocolate icing, some scarf drama down by shoveling it in with both hands, with each bite heaped on the last before the previous one can be swallowed.

Drama is draining. Drama is distraction. When reality hits, there's nothing exciting or thrilling about it, yet I see so many people feed on their and others on-going drama like pigs at a trough.

While the books I write contain fictional drama and conflict galore, I have no desire to slog through drama slop in real life.

I fully understand that experiencing some drama in life is unavoidable. Accidents happen. Others set things in motion that we have no control over. Oftentimes, like Harry Potter, we encounter a She or He Who Will Not Be Named in our lives (future blog post in the making) that for some reason targets us to intentionally cause harm and hurt in our lives.

For the most part, I do everything in my power to experience, create, and share positive excitement and thrills in my life, while avoiding the majority of unnecessary and unwanted drama served. Please know that I do care what goes on in the lives of those around me; however, for the sake of my own emotional balance and due to my desire to achieve personal goals in my life, I choose to respectfully bow out of participating in or listening to drama, drama, drama.

Uplugged and Plugged In

No phone. No internet. No television. No other interaction, other than between my story and me. It took taking limiting the time I spend writing each day (i.e., a drive down Only Street), and unplugging from all electronics during that time, for me to be able to hit my natural writing stride.

For many years, I've wondered what it would be like to do what I was meant to do. It took almost as many years for me to make a choice to make writing a priority, then a few more to be able to make writing a priority.

I won't dwell on what I could have done or should have done. That's the past. It can't be rewritten or changed (although I've got a great story idea for a book along those lines). Although I have plans for the future, all I truly have, all any of us have, is today.

By unplugging, I am plugging into that writer part of myself that I knew was in there somewhere. After all this time, I've come home.

Dear Diary, with only 3 days remaining...

Dear Diary, with only 3 days remaining, I am reviewing the manuscript of Book #1 of Series #1. For the submission to a developmental editor, I am rearranging scenes and adding markers for a few new scenes.

Hubby's healing from foot surgery is going well, and OUR change in behavior toward the puppy is eliciting changes behavior in him.

This morning, I will start planning a writing schedule, the same way I basically set a work schedule. Writing is my job now; therefore, writing deserves the same level of respect and commitment as my former job.

First things first, I must find my Daytimer-type calendar book. Secondly, I will map out my potential writing work day.

What if I could have an ideal writing day? For that matter, what would my ideal DAY be like?

Oddly, even though I tend to be creative, I have not before considered what either an ideal day or ideal writing day would be.

So, next, I map out, with the intent of commitment and with the understanding that flexibility is a must, my ideal writing day AND ideal day. (Why shouldn't this writing gal go for it all?)

Until next time, Dear Diary!

The Perils of Writing from Home

The puppy's whining woke me from a dream of a post-apocalyptic world. An awesome story idea evaporated into wakefulness to address puppy's need to piddle.

Sitting before the monitor, with puppy outside in the kennel, mama cat yowls and wants attention.

Reading through a scene, mama cat continues to eeroow, and hops on top of the writing table, dislodging notes and scattering pens.

Placed back on the floor, mama cat rrreeews and proceeds to yerk on the carpet.

I retrieve paper towels and clean up kitty leavings. Spray with stain remover and scrub the spot.

Since it's getting warmer out, so I herd the cats out of my writing room, and bring the puppy back in.

Ah. I sit before the monitor. Doing what I most enjoy doing.

There's a white flurry in the room. Puppy has knocked the roll of paper towels off the printer stand and is having great fun.

Pieces of shredded paper towel fly into the air. The mess that only took seconds to make is quite impressive.

I clean up the paper towels, while puppy wags his tail mightily, then since hubby has had foot surgery and for now I am our primary cook, so it's time to cook breakfast.

Breakfast is finished, yet there's some paperwork that hubby needs to locate. I am informed this should only take a few minutes.

Three hours later, the missing papers has been FINALLY located, and it's time to make lunch.

That was the first half of my day yesterday.

The second half consisted of more outside puppy trips, more assisting with compiling paperwork, putting dishes into the dishwasher, doing several loads of laundry, making healthy fruit shakes to encourage hubby's healing (twice), cleaning blender (twice), making dinner, and cleaning up mess leftover from searching for paperwork.

As for writing-related activities, I skimmed part of a scene in the early morning hours.

Folks have commented about my working at home, sitting before the computer monitor in my pajamas. That does not happen. I get up and get ready for my day as if getting ready for a job outside the home, because writing is my job.

Yesterday, I was not able to do my job well or properly. Had I been working outside the home, my boss more than likely would not have been happy with my job performance.

The pets tend to add so much companionship and enjoyment to my life, as does hubby; therefore, I don't have a solution as of yet as to balancing, setting boundaries, and priorities.

Hubby's healing and comfort is of great importance and is a priority for the next few weeks.

As for puppy, he's, well, a puppy; however, in the next few weeks, we will address his behavioral issues as well.

For mama cat and her two offspring, a visit to the vet is order to address their continued tummy issues. (In the next few weeks as well.)

As for writing...it's my job, it's what I do and how I intend to make my living; therefore, in the next week I must pull the first book together and send to the developmental editor by next Tuesday. Once hubby is healed, if the puppy and cat issues are not resolved, I will need to come up with other alternatives to my writing environment.

Although, I have been working from home for my job for several years, setting my boundaries for doing work for a company that paid me for my time tended to be more straightforward and realistic.

For the past few weeks, the level of distraction and lack of the ability to focus has been, mildly put, overwhelming.

Truth be told, I had no idea the perils of writing from home.