What I acknowledge about myself and my process is I need a really large canvas. I waste a lot of time. If I don’t think I have enough time–and this goes back as far as 1st grade, recorded on my report cards–I can’t even get started. So the time I block off is substantial–no less than two hours. Just knowing I have the time allows me to relax and focus.

Also, I know I have to start early in the day. If I start in the morning, I can go all day, but if I were to plan to start at, say 3 in the afternoon? Not as likely to work.

The other thing is, I never do my own writing on the same computer as where I do my goofing off. I am the queen of goofing off on the computer, as you can perhaps guage by the speed and length of this response when I am supposed to be spending from 8 to 9 this a.m. doing cleaning stuff. I do my creative writing on my laptop in a completely different space in the house, or sometimes I will go out of the house, like to the library or Cafe Ziba. It helped that I have no wireless in the house and my “writing room” doesn’t have a network plug, but now I can steal my neighbor’s unsecured wireless down there so that’s made me waste a little more time, not too bad though.

I have to say–and perhaps Bethany will agree–just having the experience at writing large documents has been helpful to me for staying on track with my creative work. Is it some innate ability that came first that made me good at doc, or did I develop a mindset after working in doc? I don’t know. I think it helps that I am very organized on the inside, so a good amount of the work is done in my head before I sit down. So some of that may or may not transfer as generalized advice. For me, it’s very satisfying when everything wraps up (not sure if you got the A-Team reference, but George Peppard used to slap his hands together as everything was blowing up at the end of the episode and say, “I love it when a plan comes together”–I can relate!), and I have a general schedule/process in my head that feels comforting to execute. This definitely motivates me to reach the next phase. I guess it might help you to figure out what motivates you and adapt your process so that you get more of that satisfied feeling — think deer at a saltlick.

(Actually, as I reread this, I should say — think sex.)

I know that being creative on a regular, daily basis–even if it IS only for 15 minutes–keeps the pump primed, and puts you in a much better position for taking advantage of your creative windows. That’s the first thing. Being motivated and committed is also important. Even so, I’ll still often pick the path of least resistance. Right now, for example, I could be working on my book–but I’d rather be here!

Any more thoughts on what makes you “just do it”?

I wrote my first novel in 15 minute chunks. While my son napped, between meetings and project commitments. And it took me 9 months and I finished it. Now–I’m determined to do this again for the next book. I’ve just had a lot of personal things to get over first.

We should start a 10 minute club… what did you do with your last free 10 minutes (write my book review for the week!).

The same was true about my novel, which I had a lot more time for. At the time I was working a two-day-a-week job, one that was creative but that didn’t require that I write. When Alex was still little, I had him in daycare three days a week instead of two, so the third day was the weekday writing day. I also worked on the novel every other weekend (when the kids were with their dad), pretty much from morning until about 5:00 or 6:00, though working straight through when I didn’t have plans sometimes happened as well. On those days, I often felt torn because there were a million projects I could have been doing to catch up on things, being a single mom with three kids and all…

I can’t say I’m the sort of person who has a lot of unfinished writing projects lying around. If the idea is really good and the project is going well, staying on track and finishing is not an issue for me, probably because of my professional background, as well as my “A-Team” mentality (“I love it when a plan comes together”). I do have a lot of not-very-good unfinished works (and there they shall–and should–stay!).

Problem now is finding mental space for writing when I am writing and editing all day long. Not a lot of creative spark at the moment.

I haven’t quite figured out how to let go of certain things (yet). Chaos seems to sap my creativity, although maybe that’s just an excuse. I also find that switching hats between being Mom and being Creative Person sometimes requires a little goofing off time (“a little” being the operative qualifier–I don’t seem to get down to work quickly enough). How were you able to shift gears so efficiently?

I do think that working for a paycheck makes all the difference in time and mindshare. I look back on the days when I was a fulltime, stay-at-home mother and I WISH I’d had then the sense of urgency that I have now. But regret doesn’t get the job done….