Miranda: Here goes…week #1
I’ve worked out a schedule whereby I can complete my nonfiction manuscript by early April. As I have 129 manuscript pages in hand. (These pages are patchwork bits and pieces of the whole book, rather than the first 129 pages. Chapter 1 is a solid draft.) If I crank, I can finish each one of the eight chapters in two weeks’ time apiece. This is aggressive, but I am determined to have a fairly complete draft in hand before baby #5 arrives in early May.
I’d also like to do a little sketching and drawing, but I won’t have a lot of spare time–especially as we may be putting our house on the market again. So for now, I need to focus on the book. According to my spreadsheet, I’m supposed to finish Chapter 2 by this Friday. Ack! This will be a challenge, but I don’t have a heavy client workload this week, so I can commandeer a good amount of my babysitting time for the book.
Longer term, I need to focus on two things: just write something, every day–even if it’s only 5 minutes’ worth–and use longer, scheduled chunks of work time. Just creating this blog post makes me feel more committed!
Studio Mothers: Life & Art 
Commenting on my own post to say that the first day has been a success. Just knowing that I’ll have to post on Friday with my results has lit a fire under my rear. I probably would have used nap time today for client work, but since it’s a holiday, I told myself to save the freelance stuff for babystting time tomorrow. Nothing bad will happen. Instead, I got 2.5 hours in on Chapter 2, which suddenly has legs. I will definitely have a draft for Friday. Hooray!
Ack – how are you managing with the kids? Especially with those longer chunks of time?
Well, I am fortunate in that I have childcare on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, all day. At the moment, I work at home. This used to be ideal, as Toddler would just toddle by and say hi every now and then. But now he wants my attention all the time, wants me to get his juice or put him down for a nap instead of his babysitter (who happens to be the best babysitter of all time, and even cleans the house and does laundry–yes, heaven). When I’m not here, he’s happy as a clam. So I’ve taken to going to the library or a coffee shop with my laptop and working there instead (any place that lets me on the internet for free).
With my current workload, I am able to get most of my work done in two of my three days. I am trying hard to save Fridays for creative work. I don’t schedule client meetings for that day. I do respond to client e-mails as needed, but at least from noon to 4:00, I try to have dedicated book time.
Even when I don’t have a babysitter, Toddler naps 2.5 hours every day. (Yeah, I know–but we paid in advance during the first 18 months of his life.) So I have an opportunity to work every day, so long as I don’t let client work eat up all of that time. I’m not very good at that yet.
As for the older kids, they are all pretty self-sufficient at this point. When I’m working, they talk to me and I look at them but sometimes don’t hear what they’re saying. They hate this, but my brain can’t always multi-task.
We’re trying to move, maybe to build our own house, in which case I would have a beautiful office of my own, right off the main floor–available, yet with doors that close. I would really pinch myself.
Really not sure how all this is going to work when the next one arrives…
Miranda, this is a great idea. Christa pointed me here. I’ll try to commit to the writing-a-little-bit-every-day idea, even for five minutes, as you said. I used to do my “morning pages” every day (would usually do 3), but let that slip away as my kids woke up earlier and earlier. I guess that will be my goal for now, since I haven’t had time to reorganize my two fiction MSs to where I can write on them again. Thanks for the encouragement and support.
I’m with you on the morning pages, Mary Louisa. I used to depend on that daily ritual (and it was a much cheaper alternative to psychotherapy–and sometimes at least as effective!) but took me so long (45 minutes to an hour) that I eventually gave it up. I hope one day to work that back in. I did spend some time journaling yesterday because so much great stuff is going on right now, and I want to make a record of it.
You’re absolutely on the right track with a five-minute goal, however. Just writing for a few moments, whether it’s straight journal style or a few more creative snippets creep in, keeps the creative self alive. I’m sure you find that when you’re working regularly, even if you don’t have much time to dedicate to output, your brain keeps working while you’re away from the page. I think this is so important–keeping the creative mind alive while immersed in that “domestic tidal wave.” Just five minutes a day is enough to serve this purpose, and then you’ll discover you’re prepared to tackle those fiction manuscripts when the opportunity arrives, because you’ve kept the pump primed.
Please post back and let us know how it’s going!