Like I’d written before, working full time and having a family has left very little writing time.  For years I’ve tried to have it all only to fail miserably and take that failure out on others.  In the last six months I’ve come to learn what is important and what I need to let go.

Trying to write isn’t easy.  For me, I need quiet, uninterrupted time when my mind is fresh and ready to work.  So I quickly came to my first decision.  Sleeping in on the weekends was a thing of the past.  During the week, I’m up at 5 getting my husband off to work, then my son off to high school and then my daughter off to elementary school before I finally head off to work.

On the weekends I now allow myself to sleep until 6 (yeah I know…wow a whole hour).  Then I’m up and on the computer typing away for the next two-three hours until my family begins to rise.  On a good day I can easily reach 2-3k in one of these writing jags.  Once everyone is up, my writing for the day is done, though I’m always working the story in my mind.

As I clean house and do laundry I work storylines and angles, trying to figure out my characters motivations for doing what they do.  I go over what I’ve already written to make sure the storyline is still making sense and heading in the right direction.

I’ve never been one for Facebook or Twitter so I don’t do much social media.  Maybe that hurts me.  Maybe I need to figure how to incorporate it into my daily routine.  We’ll see how that goes.

For now I spend exactly 1 hour every morning writing in between getting my family off to work and school, so I average about 1k a day during the week and 2 a day on the weekends.  Since I’m what you’d call a well writer this system seems to be working for me as once I’m done for the day I’m no longer worrying about what I haven’t written.  The time away gives me a chance to replenish my imagination and I know tomorrow, when I’m fresh I’ll be able to continue with the story.  Hopefully, this pattern continues to work for me and I can continue to be a productive author.

I’m still struggling to fit everything into my life.  Most of the time not all the laundry gets done and exercise for me is still non-existent.  But I’m hopeful that as I settle further into this pattern and continue to make adjustments I can eek out the time I need to make it all work.