I was drawn to the writer at New Mercies For Me because we both have difficulty finding time to write. A challenge from The Daily Post prompted us to collaborate on a post. In tackling the issue of how to find time to write, we each came to the conclusion that for our individual schedules, scheduling a weekly, block of time, for writing, was more realistic than a daily, block of time. However, in a dream world, writing time would be limitless. We decided to answer the question posed by The Daily Post:
if you could step into a machine that gave you more time, how would you structure your day?
Collaborating illustrates that two people provide double the insight. I highly recommend trying this.
Enjoy the answer from New Mercies For Me :
If I could step into a machine that would give me extra time to write I would go for a run first thing in the morning. Running alone with my thoughts is when I discover most of my inspiration for writing. Then I would return home and write for a couple of hours on the book I started writing a couple of years ago. The extra morning time would be before my job starts so that when my 2 hours of writing were done it would be time to go to work at my job. Then after work there would be another block of time so that I could keep up with my blog writing about my life and faith and what I have learned to share with others. To the outside world I would be a prolific writer in addition to working a full time job and managing my volunteer activities and family. In reality it would be this amazing machine giving me extra time.
Our separate responses made one thing, immediately clear to me. I am too focused on structure. I think you’ll see what I mean. Here was my response:
I would sleep until I awakened, naturally. (8 hours)
Arise, and hang out in my bed clothes while sipping coffee and catching up on the day’s news, or reading. (1 hour)
Spiritual time or church (1 hour)
Walk the dog. (30 minutes)
Go to the gym. (1 hour)
Sit on the patio to cool off with a refreshing drink, have breakfast, while petting the cat
(1 hour )
Shower and into comfy lounging clothes. (30 minutes)
Write (2 hours)
Household task of the day: wash clothes, pick up, sweep, clean after pets, etc. (1 hour)
Watch a movie while having lunch. (2 hours)
Household Tasks. (30 minutes)
Get ready for work. (30 minutes)
Work (4 hours)
2nd lunch (1 hour)
Work (4 hours)
Charitable work/volunteer 2 hours
Dinner 1 hour
Pick up, clean dishes (30 minutes)
Walk the dog (30 minutes)
Rehearse music (2 hours)
Shower and into comfy clothes (30 minutes)
Popcorn/snack and a movie, or a book. (2 hours)
Prepare for the next day ( 30 min)
Wow! A post can tell a lot about a person. Yes, it’s true
- I like lists.
- I like to schedule my day, by minute.
- I like movies and lounging
- I need about 37 hours in my day to support my lounging habits
- I do most of my thinking in the shower, so it’s a good thing I’ve scheduled two per day.
From our answers to one question, I learned an important, and unexpected, lesson from New Mercies For Me . The amount of time I spent calculating hours and organizing my “list” into an exact order, was unnecessary. My need to structure my day down to the last minute, wasted valuable time when I could have written a brief answer, from the heart, without specifics. Both styles completed the exercise, satisfactorily. I found the shorter answer more inspiring. Mine actually stressed me a bit to think about all the alarms I would have to set to keep my schedule. Structure is good, but I should make some adjustments. Perhaps I will schedule 15 minutes per day for writing from the heart?
Living Over The Hill 
How funny, Michelle; it occurred to me today that it would be fun to write a post about the joy of making lists!
I think, for many of us who are nurturers, too, time for writing is secondary to the needs of others. So, in addition to time management, we sometimes need to give ourselves permission to put ourselves first… Does that play a role at all in your time-for-writing crunch?
Thanks for a great post; I plan to visit your blogging partner, too!
Pam
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You know me pretty well. I do enjoy doing things for others, however, I spend way too much time daydreaming and watching television to be quite honest. 🙂
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Oh, well, Michelle…there is that, too…
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