20 Minutes At A Time

I’ve been sitting at my local Panera most of the day writing. I wanted to take a little break from SHADOW DEMONS for a few, so I’m hiding out on my blog.

When I first started writing full time (about three years ago), I had a really hard time motivating myself to work all day. I never realized how hard time management could be. I always thought that people who worked for themselves were just so lucky and they had it so easy. God, was I wrong! Working for yourself and setting your own hours is HARD. It definitely has its rewards, but in order to make it work, you have to truly learn some self-discipline.

I am not the most disciplined girl in the world. My bathroom is always messy. My computer desk is crazy unorganized. Hell, even the desktop on my computer is cluttered. I like to stay up late and sleep in. I spend hours a week gaming. And I love to shop. Before I found my motivation, I used to waste most of my days. I could hardly get 500 words a day written, and most of the time I just threw out whatever I was writing.

Fast forward three years and I’m writing 2,000 words a day on average. I’ve written and published three full books since September, and I’m already halfway through Book 4. So how did I do it?

In 20 minute spurts. I started with a little kitchen timer and now have started using my cell phone timer. I set it for 20-30 minutes depending on how I’m feeling, and just go go go. When my 20 minutes is up, I take a break. I pamper myself and do something fun. I watch an episode of something fun like Arrested Development (I heart Netflix) while I do my nails. Then, I set my timer again and get back to work. Somehow, I manage to fit in 2,000 words, two long walks a day, meals, chatting time with my husband and friends, and I still have time for social networking, blogging and yes, gaming.

Instead of sitting down to write this very daunting daily word count, I break it into small, manageable chunks. It makes the day seem do-able. I just write out my to-do list in the mornings (okay, some days it’s 11:00 when I crawl out of bed, but for now, we’ll just call that “morning”), then go about completing the list 20 minutes at a time. I’m not perfect by any means. My desk is still a mess and I probably have dirty dishes waiting for me at home, but I’m writing and besides spending time with husband, that’s the most important part of my day.

And now my 20 minutes is up, so I’m going to wrap up this blog post and get back to SHADOW DEMONS.