Other writers frequently ask me how I get so much done, what my schedule or writing practice is like. I decided to actually track my activity for a week and see what it looked like so I was answering honestly.
It was a little bit of a weird week, I had a doctor’s appointment on Monday, and Wednesday my new medication made me sick so I left work early and took a long nap.
Percentage-wise, writing took up 6.4% of my usable hours. Day-job was the big time grabber at 53%, followed by Chores (walking the dog and driving the kid places included in chores) and Internet or Reading (I read at least a half-hour every day before bed, but I also spend time goofing on the internet when I’m supposed to be writing and I recorded it). I didn’t feel like I got a lot of writing done that week, but I still spent more time writing than grooming, watching TV, or going on dates with my husband, combined.
Checking my writing journal I can dig into what I got done in the four and three-quarters hours I spent writing that week. Monday was my weekly write-in, and I wrote for about one and three-quarters hour (from 7:15 to 9pm, honestly reporting that I spent the first 15 minutes of the write-in just gabbing with my friends), the result of which was a thousand words on the sequel I’m writing for Galactic Hellcats. I wrote for one hour on Tuesday, after dinner and a half-hour of TV, and before walking the dog. Another 500 words added to Galactic Hellcats 2. I didn’t write on Wednesday, which is totally understandable since that’s the day I was sick. I wrote for one hour on Thursday, from 9:30 to 10:30 pm, after a long talk with the kid and before reading and going to bed. I spent that time revising The Gods Awoke (my new novel due out this September from Journey Press!) I got the first two chapters revised. Friday I wrote for one hour right after my after-work nap and before dinner, and I revised Chapter 3 of TGA.
So there you have it. Not really any great secrets to productivity. I tend to write at least an hour a day, except Mondays, when I do two hours while chatting on Zoom with other writers.
And as you can see, I am not leading a particularly disciplined life. I read a lot and I nap a lot and there are hours recorded as merely “goofing off.” (I lumped them in to reading and internet since most of my goofing off is social media.) No, I don’t watch much TV, but is reading 4 hours of fanfic a week really more virtuous?
I didn’t set some “write one hour every day” goal, either. I really had no conscious idea how often I wrote, I just chose moments when the opportunity presented itself. I had in the past set goals like that, and got upset when I failed at them. I guess over time I just got into the habit anyway. It’s not about writing every day, it’s about always thinking of writing when you can.
My one hour of writing a day tends to come from the chunk of time reserved for crafts and hobbies, what’s left after work, self-care, chores, and parenting. I don’t choose not to do work, self-care, chores, or parenting. I choose not to do other crafts and hobbies.
Once I was complaining to my SCA knight that I had no time to fix my armor, and that kind man said to me, “Well, you choose what you spend your time on.” And it was the most damning, painful, true thing anyone had ever said to me. One hour writing every day does cut into time I would use to fix armor, to sew costumes, to master the Rubik’s cube. You choose what you spend time on, and right now, I choose this.
But always naps.
And okay, I have been working on my Rubik’s game:
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