Deborah Cooke: Author

Cristal is a fellow member of Toronto Romance Writers and also a member of my smaller writers’ group. She was, in fact, the recipient of our first nudge (get it off your desk and onto that editor’s desk) and wow, did we ever put her in gear! She’s been sending work out and like crazy ever since. (I think she’s afraid we’ll nudge her again!)

Here’s the permalink to my post on her blog.

And here’s Cristal!

Time

Thanks so much Deb for having me come over and play on your blog. Oh and hop on over to mine because we’re playing in each other’s blogyards today. How long have we known each other? Must be coming on ten years, or longer since we met a TRW. See how time plays tricks on us. Segue to my guest blog here at Alive and Knitting.  Oh and speaking of knitting, I have a blankie that I started for my oldest son which was never completed.

Think of the Pink Floyd song about Time from the Dark Side of the Moon Album. I was in Grade 10 and remember deconstructing that song for a school project. Yes, I was a 70’s teen. Never in my wildest dreams would I believe time went as fast as they claimed. Yet here I am, with so many of those ten years behind me and I don’t remember anyone telling me when to run and I definitely didn’t hear the starting gun!

Anyone that has been pregnant will know that time crawls when you’re huge and lumbering around, labour seems to take forever and then once you have your little bundle of joy time picks up speed and the next thing you know your baby is twenty years old! My oldest is twenty three in ten days, yes the one with the unfinished blanket.

Can we fine tune time and sliver off pieces from all the other stuff to bump up writing hours? How can we get more out of the day in order to accomplish all we have to do? I work full time and have a commute, just like many other authors. Oh to be able to focus solely on writing and earn enough to support myself now and into my Golden years. But it ain’t in the cards yet!

I’m a procrastinator too. My friends know me as being easily distracted by bright and shiny things. Or going off on a tangent which has absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand. Painting my toe nails with purple polish just because the bottle was sitting beside the computer. *shrugs* That’s me.

And another thing…I feel like time is against me. I’ve wasted so much writing time with useless excuses that I feel a sense of urgency to fulfill my goals before I get too old. Put your hand up if you find other things to do when you really should be doing something much more important. I know there are lots of you out there! With time and procrastination my enemy, I’ve had to figure out how to be productive.

I finally managed to pull it all together and last November my first novella came out, No Fantasy Required. About a week after its release I was offered a contract for number two, Being Ariana which is coming out August 15. I wrote two different books simultaneously and received a contract for both of them mid July. One is a sequel to Being Ariana, titled Being Bound and the other is titled Hot Fusion, but for a different publisher. I tend to be cautious about things and will announce more on my website once things are finalized. And, now the paranormal world is calling me.

Where is all this going? Time management. *cough* Yes, from a procrastinator. Almost three weeks ago now I implemented a daily writing plan.  An hour during my day job lunch break = 5 hours per week. Once home from said day job, write 4pm – 6pm = 2 hours x 5 days. Uninterrupted and focused. If I’m lucky it will be 2000-3000 new words a day, anything more than that is a bonus. All I did was watch Y&R anyway and now I’m achieving goals! (no, I won’t whine about not seeing what’s happening in Genoa City)

By doing this, I feel like I’ve manhandled time to suit me and not feel guilty when I need/want to do something else later during the evening. Win win. Plus, if I miss the full timeframe of writing, I feel less guilty because I’m still producing. So I can go a putter in my garden, walk the dog through the conservation area, watch Hells Kitchen or True Blood with a clear conscience or whatever else tickles my fancy at the time. Oh, and since this new plan, I’m over three quarters of the way done with the new paranormal I mentioned earlier. And that’s in just two weeks!

So, excuses aside. Find your technique to keep your fingers pounding the keyboard and the page from being blank. Think about where you can carve the time out without upsetting the world around you, yet at the same time putting yourself first. Remember no one is going to show you the way…only you can do that for yourself.

Thanks Cristal! Do any of you have any time management techniques that work for you? Ways to squeeze a little more time out of the day, or ways to get more things done in less time, or tricks to stay focussed!