Quotes and Cookies: Time

Holy busy summer, Batman! Are you guys having tons of problems finding time to write, too? It can get a little frustrating, that's for sure.

Which is kind of why this quote is so awesome.

You don’t need that much time. You just have to do it consistently. You could probably write a story in ten minutes a day if you did it for enough days.

~Susan Breen

Lovely, isn't it? Lack of time doesn't matter-- consistency does. Eventually, of course, we need to spend more time if we want to finish this decade, but at times when everything else takes precedence, it's fine to just shoot for consistency.

Now to celebrate summer and all its busyness with some summer-themed cookies! Man. Some people's preferred methods of expending creative energy makes me happy.

photo credit: Flying Pig Party Productions via photopin cc

Nom nom. Have a fantastic week!

Suffering from N.E.T.S.

Oh, my gosh. You guys totally killed me in the comments yesterday! You're all a hoot. (See what I did there? A hoot?) Thanks for playing! I absolutely love hearing about the ways we work differently and the ways we work the same. After deciphering the results to the best of my ability, as of posting, there are 14 of us who are Larks, 13 of us who are Night Owls, 4 that are daytime only, and 6 that are neither. And a whole heck of a lot of us who may be one or the other, but tend to write during the middle of the day more. I love the way Lan put it--- Worker Bees. :) And several that are working against their preferred time.  Interesting stuff!

Now on to the serious stuff.

Sadly, it seems I have come down with an severe case of NETS.

No, not that kind of NETS.








No, not that kind, either.





The kind of NETS I'm talking about is Not Enough Time Syndrome. I'm guessing I'm not the only one suffering, either. Probably 99% of us have it from it to one degree or another. As much as I wish this were going to be a post about how to overcome NETS, I'm sad to say it isn't. I haven't quite gotten it figured out myself. In fact, if you looked at this past week alone, I'd say I've THE OPPOSITE OF figured it out.

So what about you? Have you figured out any great ways to be more efficient with your writing? Blogging? Blog visiting? How about tricks to do all those NON-WRITING things we do? What things do you skip when you feel a time crunch?

Give me a suggestion, and I'll love you forever. Wait, what? I already love you forever? Okay, I'll up it: I'll love you forever AND I'll think of you fondly while I'm implementing your great suggestions. Who knows? Maybe I'll even do a post with some tips I thought were particularly helpful and link back to you.

And if you don't have any ideas but want to commiserate, I AM HERE FOR YOU. (But only until tomorrow. At that point, we are going to FIX everything so we no longer have N.E.T.S. Deal?)

Have a great day! And best of luck to everyone in recovering from however badly you're suffering from NETS.

Quotes and Cookies: Writing is Your Choice

First off, I need to tell you guys how much I LOVED reading all of your How Old Were You stories on Wednesday. They're all downright inspiring! It made me all kinds of giddy to read them. One commenter, Iain from Iainspiration did a post to tell his whole story. Check it out!

And holy canoli was this a busy week! Anyone else SO GRATEFUL that Friday is here? Got a craving for some cookies or a fabulous quote? Me, too. Let's get to it!

"No one is asking, let alone demanding, that you write. The world is not waiting with bated breath for your article or book. Whether or not you get a single word on paper, the sun will rise, the earth will spin, the universe will expand. Writing is forever and always a choice - your choice."

~Beth Mende Conny

Kinda puts it into perspective, doesn't it? The world won't end if we don't write. We will survive if we don't write (even if it really doesn't feel like we would). We create those stories the world needs because we CHOOSE to. It's our choice, and if we're going to make such an all-consuming choice, then you can bet we are going to do THE BEST WE CAN.

Because that's what writers do.

(Oh, and we also eat cookies.)

http://www.itsfordinner.com/recipe/hershey-kiss-cookies

Have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

Quotes and Cookies: A Place for Writing

"Becoming a writer means being creative enough to find the time and the place in your life for writing."

~ Heather Sellers

We are writers, and as such, we are expected to create people. To create worlds. To create plots. To create conflict. To create twists and turns. To create friendships. To create enemies. To create places. To create families. To create histories.

Hmm... I guess it isn't too much of a stretch to expect us to create time in our lives for writing, is it? (Although sometimes, it seems so much easier to create people, worlds, plots, conflict, twists and turns, friendships, enemies, places, families and histories...)

Maybe now is a good time to take a step back and evaluate if we can more creatively find the time and place for writing in our lives. And while we're at it, let's create some time to eat a creative cookie!

http://creatingthehive.com/blog-post/129425/how-to-make-milliefiore-watermelon-sugar-cookies

Happy Friday, everyone!

Squeezing Time

School starts tomorrow (which is why my kids and I have gone crazy trying to squeeze several weeks' worth of activities into last week). Since I work at my kids' school, that means I'm headed back to school too. As busy as summer gets, it's even harder to
squeeze everything in during the school year. Even if kids heading to school means you're heading into your less busy time, or if your busy times are more constant, LIFE HAPPENS. Plans change. Sometimes circumstances make it really hard to fit in writing time. Or editing time. Or querying time. Or blogging time. Or even reading time. Everyone has times when it's harder to fit it all in than at other time.

And we all have tricks. Those things we do that help us to squeeze every bit of time from a day. So how about this: I share mine, you share yours, and we all figure out ways to get it all done!

Okay, here's mine.

1. I plot in small chunks. Sure, it's easier to get a lot of plotting done when I have a big hunk of time on my hands, but most my plotting happens when I'm driving down the street, thinking as I fall asleep at night, for those first few minutes after the alarm goes off in the morning before I crawl out of bed, when I'm making dinner, folding clothes, or making sure kids don't treat the playground equipment as a high wire they need to walk across at recess. Those little chunks of time make it so I can work through my next scene. Or figure out what to do with this character. Or figure out how to fix that plot problem.
2. I take my kids fun places. We go somewhere they'll have fun, like to a park, and I take my laptop with me. That way they're having a blast, and I can find a shady place to delve into another world while still keeping an eye on this one.
3. I made the best investment ever: a netbook. Her name is P.A.M. (it stands for Peggy's Awesome Mini). She's the greatest thing ever. Check her out: she's the size of a hardback book! I can take PAM everywhere (and I usually do). If there's ever a chance I'll be waiting, she joins me so that time can be well spent.
4. I utilize my phone's voice recorder and notepad. There are definitely places you find yourself with unplanned brain-wandering time. If I'm in a place where it'd be inappropriate to talk, I use my phone's notepad to jot down whatever idea came to me. If I am somewhere less inappropriate to talk, I use my phone's voice recorder. Especially when I've finally figured out how to word something, or if it's long enough that I don't want to type so much on such a teeny device. The bonus part of using the phone voice recorder? You can talk to yourself, and EVERYONE ASSUMES YOU'RE TALKING TO A REAL PERSON. Handy thing, that.

Okay, so there's mine. What tricks do you use to squeeze the most out of each day? I'm really going to need them.