Naomi Dawn Musch

     I, like most writers, often find myself pulled in ten different directions with my writing projects. At any given time I might be working on two or three articles, queries, a blog (or two), my fiction book manuscript, my non-fiction book project, my editing job for Port Yonder Press, or mentoring a young writer in my community or through contests and lessons on A Novel Writing Site.

     It even feels overwhelming to list all that. I also work a part-time job outside the home and home educate a soon-to-be high school junior.

     Before you starting patting me on the back and lauding my ambition, let me tell you that most days I flit around like a hummingbird from flowering project to flowering project, often not giving serious attention to any of them. To thwart my proclivity toward distraction, I’m working on a new schedule, an organizational plan to keep my mind from being lured here and there and never settling. Here it is; I welcome your input and ideas for your own organization process.

     I have only a short time for writing in the morning, usually an hour or less. But this is usually when I’m freshest. I try to hammer out as much as I can then. Some days this is in the form of journaling my plans. On others it’s by tossing out a few paragraphs for one of my blogs. I don’t usually delve into the heavy aspects of my book manuscripts during that brief time.

     In late morning I have a break between parts of my job for about an hour. If I can, that’s when I try to tackle projects that take an awake brain, but not huge globs of time. This might be cleaning up a rough draft, writing a review, or working on an article or chapter. Since my thoughts are still clear at this time of day, I can the make word count add up. I might also do serious editing during this time.

     By mid to late afternoon I fall into a vegetative state. I’m home from work and I’ve checked up on my homeschooler. Now I meander around the house checking my email and Facebook updates *chagrine*, sorting laundry, or staring into the freezer wondering what I can actually get to unthaw in time for supper. I wander out to feed the chickens. My kids and husband start returning home from their jobs. Boyfriends and girlfriends pop over. Chaos ensues. My writing time is shot.

     So, evenings, after supper clean-up and catastrophes of the day have been thwarted, I finally get to address my writing again. It’s usually 8 or 9 o’clock by this time. I’m starting to yawn. BUT, that’s the best time for me to read. I need to get away from demands of my own works-in-progress, and now I can look with an open mind on what others are doing. So I tackle some editing, read a novel I plan to review—jotting a few notes here and there—or do research.

     Notably, that doesn’t add up to a lot of writing time in my regular routine. I cram like a college freshman. But it adds up. When I see a day or time slot open up that gives me 3 or 4 hours of good, fresh writing time, I salivate like it’s a block of cheesecake rather than a pie-piece of clock time.

     If your schedule is broken up or full of outside intrusions like mine is, I suggest:

• Setting up a planning chart that works for your schedule. It could be: Mondays for freelance or non-fiction; Tuesdays and Wednesdays for a pet writing project like that novel; Thursdays for blogging; Fridays for catching up on stray ends; weekends for whatever calls to you.
•  Allowing yourself success in small chunks. Guilt is such a burden, and it doesn’t do anything to improve your writing or productivity except at the cost of life’s other important missions like raising a family.
• Journaling. Sometimes sorting your thoughts and projects will come easier if you can kind of “think out loud” in a notebook where you’re free to spew and brainstorm. It’s not the same as talking to yourself (haha!) because it’s there for you as a record. You might figure it all out in your head and in a quiet conversation over the kitchen sink, but don’t trust to recall. Memory fails.
• “And always with everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Ask God to guide your writing, your calling, your writing ministry as a whole. He will direct you so you won’t let burn yourself out or waste your gift. Let Him choose your projects for you, and you won’t find yourself exasperated.