The universe is testing my will to write again, or more specifically, my desire to be a good mom and a good writer are at conflict. The school year has gotten off to a good start, we’re enrolled in after school activities, I’m trying to keep myself fit, and I’m trying to keep the writing constant. Again, I’m reminded I can’t do it all, despite the fact that before, it seems like I did.
Bottom line: I’m losing my after work writing time. Every hour my daughter spends in after-school care costs me more money. After school activities cost me time.
By the time I get the little ones in bed and settled enough that I can migrate to the basement for the evening, i am so tired that my productivity slows to a screeching halt. Maybe not so dramatically, but enough that I’m trying to think of new ways to find time in my day.
THERE ARE NO NEW WAYS. There are only the ways that cost me energy. I’ve been failing at the early morning wake-ups. So I’ve been writing at lunch instead of working out, or staying up late and taking 2 hours to do what I used to in twenty minutes. I just need to get myself in gear and wake up earlier. The first step is admitting that I’ve truly lost that after work writing time. I can’t tell you how much this saddens me. The flip side is that I’m spending more time with my kids and taking them places where they can experience things and become better people and happier children.
I need to start the 4:15 wakeups. I think I should do it military style. Throw myself out of bed and onto the floor and force out 20 pushups and situps. Get the blood flowing, right?
Maybe not. 🙂 But I do need to get down to my computer and start typing. This post is the first step. It’s worked before, and i’ll do it again, I just need the push. I can do this. If my writing is going to survive, I have no other choice. I want to be awesome at two things which require more time than I can spare.
Starting tonight, 10:15 bedtime, 5:00 wake ups. After a week or two of this and judging my productivity, I’ll see how much earlier I need to move this.
Anyone else depriving themselves of pre-sunrise sleep? I’m sure I’m not alone…
DAWN BONANNO 
Gah! No! I have a hard enough time getting myself out of bed at 6:30 so I can make sure people are ready to get out the door by 7. Get up earlier? *shudder*
I hear you totally on the trade-offs, though. The fact that I don’t need to factor in commute time and can then spend 30 minutes or an hour to write after I kick everyone out — er, I mean, see everyone off in the morning is a real lifesaver in terms of having writing time.
Of course, I have no trouble depriving myself of post-moonrise sleep to meet work deadlines . . . Staying up, easy. Getting up, oh, so hard!
Good luck with your new schedule!
Thanks! (blurry eyed, but I’m here.) The staying up late for me can get done but with horrible progress. I might not like getting up earlier than the already neccssary 545am but I definitely get more done with a 45 minute window with a very definite deadline.
I hear you – loud and clear. Several years ago I arrived at the same unpleasant conclusion as you. Between work and kids there was precious little time to work on writing. So several years ago I got in a routine of up @ 5AM -> exercise -> 5:30AM -> hygiene (very important detail there) -> from 6AM until 7:30 do nothing but writing. No peeking at emails, no “sneak reading” or any other cheating. Just. Writing. If I’m fortunate enough to have an extra 30-60 minutes during the day, I pounce on it and keep writing. Couple of observations from this schedule;
1. It is a productive way to fill the mini-voids in your day and makes time fly.
2. It is a neat feeling to read a paragraph you wrote prior and remember precisely the time and place you cranked it out. “Oh, yeah. That’s when my 2pm conference call was cancelled yesterday.”
Good luck with change.
Chris I like the conference call fill-in. 🙂 I don’t have many voids to fill, unfortunately, I need to drill holes into my schedule such as it is. I’ve purchased a digital recorder to take with me to VP, and I think I might start using it for writing, maybe on the drive home or something. Time with the kids can be time writing a scene into a notebook, then reading it to the recorder later for easier transcription. Oh wait, are those voids? You might be on to something.
I keep intending to get up earlier and write before work, but road to hell, good intentions, warm kitties a-snooze on my ankles…
Part of it is, I think, my tendency to pull later nights, so that alarm goes off and I’m not done sleeping. I need to acknowledge that college was *mumbledycough* years ago and I can’t run on three hours’ sleep anymore. My night owl tendencies don’t seem to change, though, so I might have to sneak in on the other end of the clock, and write after everyone else is in bed…
Lauren I so get the living blankie ala kitty. I’m glad at least the night owl gig can work for you. I can do it for a deadline, but not a normal every day schedule. It’s amazing how we are all so different.