It’s that time of year again. Shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, sending cards…
Writing?
Hard to accomplish in this season of “do-everything-you-usually-do-plus-all-of-that-other-stuff.”
One thing I learned as a former teacher was time management. Not only do lessons have to fit in a certain time frame, but there’s all the other stuff that interferes with the regular class day: eye exams, picture day, presentations in the auditorium, lice checks, fire drills, etc. etc. During those days, teachers are often left with odd blocks of time—sometimes minutes—to keep a class full of children engaged. You soon learn how to fill those seconds.
And that’s what we writers have to do during times like this: budget. What can a writer do for five or ten minutes when that’s all the time you have to work between running to your kids’ holiday show and shopping for something for grandma?
I can’t write a novel, but I can revise a page of one. I can look up an editor or agent and see if they are looking for my type of work. I can jot ideas for future stories. I can do a quick spell check or look for comp titles of other books in my genre.
It’s not easy keeping up with your writing time when you are getting pulled in all sorts of directions but try to find a little bit here and a little bit there. After all, the holiday season comes just once a year and we want to enjoy it—every fun and stressful part of it.
What did I do with my five minutes today? I wrote this blog post.
Happy holidays to all who celebrate!
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