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.jpg "The Hobbit and Her Majesty")
It’s here! It’s finally here! I will have the house to myself, and I will be able to write!
Or not.
As of this particular blog post, it’s Monday. I have sent the kiddos to school, and I have done ab-so-lute-ly nothing. Well, that’s not entirely true. I revised my to-do list, exercised, and realigned my qi. You see, I had planned on doing nothing other than thinking, reading, and staring at walls today. Tomorrow will be the big day. Tomorrow I will make time to write and to clean. Tomorrow I may even venture into that scary place I have been away from for so long: the gym.
But I needed today. I needed today to fly by so I could make my expectations more realistic. I needed today to skitter right past so I could see that I can’t accomplish everything I want or need to do in o.jpg "School Bus")
ne day or even a week. It’s going to be slow going. I’m not going to finish revisions and a novel this week, but I’m going to make progress. In fact, I’m holding myself to that goal by knowing that I’ll have to report back to you by the time you read this post on Thursday.
By then, I should seriously be in the routine. (At least I had better be!) Still, I’m sure I could use some pointers. Okay, stay-at-home writer moms and anyone else who works from home, what are your suggestions for how to better structure my day? I have a feeling my calendar is going to start to look like my old lesson plan book. I’m sure my kitchen timer is about to get a work out, too. What else do you have for me?
Oh, and the other reason I left my calendar blank? I knew I would be sad even as a myriad of opportunities opened up for me. I just didn’t know how empty I was going to feel when my babies jumped on the bus without a backward glance.
by Sally Kilpatrick
31 comments
Ahhhhhh, I remember those days. Freedom!
Routine? Well, are you a morning person? Mid-morning? After lunch?
Whenever you’re the most creative and alert, spend an allotted amount of time writing each day, AND THEN do housework, cook dinner, etc.
You may already know this, but the Crockpot is my best friend and when I make a casserole, stew, soup, etc, I made 3-4 casseroles (or deep-dish chicken pot pies)at one time and freeze them. Same amount of mess to clean up whether you make one or three….or five dinners. That works for meatloafs also and a frozen meatloaf in the shape of your Crockpot can be started on low or medium while it’s still frozen.
You are wiser than I am, Sally. I always think I can finish my revisions by the weekend, LOL. I envy you your Monday. It sounded wonderful and you deserve it.
The kids are so cute. Didn’t know the Hobbit was so much bigger than Her Majesty. Don’t worry. He looks like he’ll take good care of her.
I don’t see a report yet, you must be getting them off to school again this morning. Or madly writing!
I love Sandy’s idea about cooking in bulk. I’ve always wanted to do that, but hubby doesn’t like frozen. Another reason he does the cooking.
Well, ladies, it’s confession time. Not in a routine yet. When I wrote this on Monday, I was forgetting about house guests which put a crimp in my plan to gradually return my house to it’s never-before-known splendor.
*hangs head in shame* I have not written. And I have to head off to a dental appointment now, and The Hobbit has his physical tomorrow.
I will kick this. This, I vow!
I’m a routine oriented girl, but I also have to accept crimps in my schedule. I never plan to write the first day of school. I chill, visit with friends, then putz around the house. My brain needs a break.
I structure my days around accomplishing 3 hours of writing. They can be in succession, or they can be broken up by “life.” I set the timer for 60 minutes, dive in and work only on my current writing project. Timer dings, I get up (regardless of where I am in the project), I putz around, I eat a banana. Whatever. I give myself 15 minutes or a full hour if it’s lunch time. Then I dive back in again. I’ve learned to leave grocery shopping, cooking, etc, till after 4PM. Sometimes I link an errand to my return trip from the gym. If I have only a few odds and ends to pick up, I’ll stop in at Publix.
I clean house the same way. I set the timer, I work for an hour. Then I sit and do nothing, play on facebook, write a sentence. I have found that committing one day to the big cleaning is easier than trying to break it up. Of course there is the daily stuff that must be done, but they are small tasks and easy enough to do during my 15 minute breaks.
The timer is my best friend in writing, cleaning, etc. Try it. You might like it. Sometimes forcing yourself to do something even when you have no idea how you’ll get the task accomplished makes all the difference.
Love the picture of the kids. Well my kids are grown and have been out of the house for a long time and I’m not any more productive. I think the more things you have going on in your life, the more productive you are. Being a journalist, I am more motivated by deadlines. If something is due, I have to get it out the door before I can write fiction. Last week, was probably the most productive I have been in a long time. I think I wrote day and late into the night because I gave myself a “self-imposed” deadline to get some partials and fulls out the door. I submitted a requested full to an editor; a partial to an agent and made revisions on my third story in my Angel Trilogy. By the time everything went out the door I never wanted to look at the full again, I’d had it with the partial and I couldn’t wait to jump in and do the revisions on the short story.(short=closure)
Now I have to make up for the time I spent writing to work on my corporate jobs and then I can write four blog posts. I’m looking forward to the blog posts. (short=closure).
I think it’s hard to sit down and write if you don’t have a deadline. Cooking doesn’t enter into the picture. When my husband comes home and asks what’s for dinner I just laugh and then start looking around the refrigerator, but when you have kids at home you can’t do that.
I get spurts or bursts of energy and then need to decompress. I don’t know what the answer is.
When it comes to houses, never-before-known-splendor is overrated. Pages matter. Put them first and then do the other
Hope that routine works out for you once the house is truly empty. When you see tomorrow’s post, you’ll find what I did to make those goals work!
Great pictures, Sally. I love the way your little fella has his arm wrapped protectively around his little sister.
I have a spreadsheet/checklist with my daily to-do list. I start work (piano teaching) about the time my 15yo gets home from school and spend mornings/early afternoons doing everything else: writing, making jewelry for my Etsy store, going to the gym, housekeeping, laundry, etc. There is more on the list than there are hours in the day, but I try not to miss two days in a row on anything, and the checklist helps me keep track of where I’m at. I hope that makes sense! What I fail to schedule in is down time; you were very wise to do that on Monday. Good luck in finding your new rhythm. Be good to yourself!
Christine, I’ve been thinking a lot about timers. That may be the way I go. Your philosophy directly follows that of the book I’ve been reading, the one I wrote about last time that says that productivity is greatest in smaller, intense spurts of activity. By small, of course, they mean hour long to 90 minute increments. You get a gold star for following their plan without knowing it!
It helps to know you schedule 3 hours for writing because I can see how productive you are on Twitter and FB–ironic, I know. I was wavering between 3 and 4 or maybe even starting with 2 hours and working up to 3.
Good hints!
Marilyn, don’t be so hard on yourself! You’re getting things done. I do function well with deadlines and checklists, but my house is such a wreck that I have lost my goals that I made around New Year’s.
I totally agree with you on the need for closure. I like blog posts for that reason, too. For some reason, I can’t get myself to write short stories, though. It’s like the guy who said something like I wrote you a long letter because I didn’t have time to write you a short one. The short story takes a lot out of me. Thanks for the compliment on the kiddos, too.
Debbie, see the aforementioned need to find my goals and personal deadlines. Although, I think you’re right about abandoning the idea of a really clean house. Maybe I’ll work on getting the kids to work this year and work on a cleaner house next year.
Pam, I think I need to find my list. (This would be the point at which Linsey would be saying, “You know, you could put your goal list on your computer or your phone, Sally.”) I suppose chaos does, at least on occasion, provide me with inspiration. I really like your idea of making sure you don’t skip 2 days in a row of anything.
Sandy, I forgot to mention that I was just thinking that the crockpot and I were going to have to become reacquainted. I need some really healthy crockpot and casserole recipes–got any of those up your sleeve?
Hey Sally: I had to give myself permission to STOP writing. The household/kid/hubby need attention as well. So giving myself a limit keeps me focused and I own the writing.
When I’m with my family, I own that time as well.
3 hours is a reasonable, attainable goal MOST days. Life does happen. But it is amazing how much one can achieve in 3 hours.
Hi Sally,
I love the smiles on your kiddos faces. How wonderful to send them off knowing they’re happy. Now it’s your turn to do things that make you happy. (Hopefully, your pang of sadness has left by now. Although, I felt that pain too.)
Recently, I started using a visual goal – a money jar. Christine suggested something similiar in an earlier post. Everyday I make my writing goal another quarter goes in the jar. I see them. I hear them when I jingle it and it gives me a sense of satisfaction. Most importantly, it makes me want to get back to it.
As far as the crock pot. The easiest one for me is b-que chicken. After washing the chicken and arranging the pieces, I slather our favorite sauce and a 1/4 of water. Turn it on slow and magic– in my house anyway. With winter coming you could do stews and chili.
Once you figure out what works for you, you’ll be unstopable.
Thanks, Sia. I like visual goals, too. Maybe I’ll just tack my sheet up in the corner of the breakfast room–sheetrock be darned!
It’s been a while since I’ve tried the BBQ chicken–think it’ll work as well with boneless? It should, I would I think…
Use your phone recording & word apps & keep it on you at all times. When you’re doing anything other than writing & inspiration hits, either record or type that idea in your phone so you don’t let it escape!
Don’t make me come over there young lady!
That’s the best I’ve got – that and Sandy’s crockpot idea.
Oh no– I’ve got another one!
Do NOT , repeat NOT sign up for classroom mom, team mom, den leader mom, KoolAid mom, Halloween party mom, Winter Fest mom….
Capiche?
Sally, first off let me tell you how much I despise you. Get the F@&% writing! Also, I love you dearly. Enjoy the quiet and do something unusual for yourself. Read a book, see a movie, stop cleaning and breathe. Booty smacks!
Thank you, Nicki, for putting all things in perspective. *booty smack*
I have recipes that will help with that time mgmt thingie. Will locate and post in our loop files. Promise!
Kid picture is adorable. Good luck and get your BICHOK on, girl. No time like the present. (says she, the master procrastinator, and ducks)
Thanks, Carol! I’ll gladly take some new recipes. tomorrow I’m off to explore Harry’s and Trader Joe’s in the quest for healthier food–after I’ve written, of course. ; )
Hi Sally! I went through the SAME exact thing this past week. Missing my little kindergartners more than anything, wishing I could turn back the clock to when they were newborns(maybe not
. I struggled and struggled to establish a routine all week. Then today, ta da! I fell into one! It’s a great step and I hope one that bears much fruit in the days and weeks to come. I hope yours does, too!
Love these Sally! I have to be honest and tell you that I get more done while working a full time job than I ever did while staying at home. I never mastered the task of sitting down and actually writing when I had that freedom to do so. I usually was up, doing laundry, washing dishes, cleaning windows (yes, anything to procrastinate).
With me working, I HAVE to set a schedule if I want to get anything done. I also see a pattern that it is those days when I have the least amount of time scheduled for work that I get the least amount done. Those times I’m singing the freedom dance and the day flies past without me accomplishing much.
If you find the key to this, PLEASE let me know. I would also love a copy of the file Carol!!!
Thanks for sharing this with us. The Hobbit and Her Majesty are adorable.
Tami
I’ve very recently gotten into a routine. No, it’s not because the kids went back to school (they’re both in high school, drive and are very self sufficient(except for the demon girl child…she’s still a work in progress) and it’s not because I suddenly lost my job, I don’t work.
No, it’s nothing external…it’s internal. Something clicked in my head a few months ago and I’ve been on fire ever since. Writing fire that is. I’ve written every single day, even weekends (WHICH HAS NEVER EVER HAPPENED BEFORE)for the last 2 months.
It’s thrilling really. I wish I would have been doing this for years. I might have already typed THE END on the last page of all 9 partial novels I have yet to complete.
The only thing that worries me, besides the fact that this comment will be longer than War and Peace when I’m through, is that I promised myself I’d finish my WIP by August 1st. When that didn’t happen I gave myself another week. Still not done.
My new goal is to finish by September 1st but I’m scared it’s not gonna happen even though I’m writing my slightly large and flabby tush off.
Oh woe is me. What ever shall I do?
I’m frightened.
Please say a little Sally prayer that I have the gumption to finish this thing soon so I can send it out to its many requesters (not a word but I don’t care)
That is if you pray…if not, no worries, just toss a penny in a fountain and make a wish 4 me
And Sally, even though they didn’t give you a backwards glance at the bus stop, I know those little darlins think you’re tops. I do, and you didn;t even give birth to me
Hugs!!
Tamara
Hi Sally,
Loved the pics. This is my 4th year at home. Got the most accomplished the 1st year. Now? I do let mental suggestions get in the way: Go see you sister and brother! Cook a nice meal! Go to the gym …you get the idea.
Gonna TRY to write more. I’m sure you actually will!
Sally,
I love the picture. I made a first day of school picture of my kids until they graduated from high school. I still look at them and admire how much they have grown. I’m not subbing this year-so far- so I don’t have a routine yet. I’d sure get more work done if I did. I do make a list of what I want to finish in a day. Oh, I do get a nap everyday and I so love it.
Pamela, I will stay away from being anyone’s designated Mom. You may feel free to call me on that at any time.
Mariam, thanks for the encouragement, and congratulations on getting your routine in place. I’m going to write today, and I”m going to like it. Other than that, things will fall into place.
Tami, I understand what you’re saying. If I figure it out, then I will definitely be sharing. I’d better get my act together, or I’ll be teaching again. The thought of that kinda gives me a nervous tic, so Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, it’s off to [my] work I go!
Tamara, you always make me smile. And, no, I don’t think you’re to War and Peace with your comment yet.
I will certainly pray for you. In fact, we can have a friendly competition if you’d like. I can pick one of two projects to finish, myself.
Maxine, let’s kick this thing. I have a list of all those things that just pop up in my head. My only problem is that I sometimes don’t get to that list for a while. I don’t want to do worse this year than last, so–as I said above–I’m about to set the timer and get started. Just finishing my responses to these truly lovely comments.
Susan, that is such a great idea with the pictures of the kids on the first day of school. I wish I had thought of that before! I did think that I would print and frame pictures of each kid on the first day of Kindergarten and put one picture on either side of the front door, though.
Congrats on not subbing, you have a few other things to do this year, don’t you? (i.e. write some books)