# Newbie to the Forum with Time Management Question



## mistertmo (Nov 4, 2011)

Hello Everyone...

I've been reading through posts on this forum and I see an awful lot of good, helpful people and advice, which made me want to join. As you can imagine I'm an aspiring author and I look forward to "meeting" all of you.

Probably like many of you here, I spend great energy trying to balance a more-than-full time job with dedicating time to writing. Over the years I've written five complete manuscripts, but only the most recent I feel is really quality enough for public consumption. Problem is, as is the familiar story, I have a stack of "thanks for your submission" rejection letters from the past two years of querying agents. Meanwhile, I am working on my 6th novel about which I'm extremely excited, but after work, time with the family, household stuff... There's only so much time to go around.

If I can solicit your thoughts, I'm curious about how other writers approach limited time. Researching agents and how-to articles on querying and putting together proposals for the last manuscript - especially given the frustration of the form-letter rejection process - can be a tremendous hindrance to getting the current manuscript done. At what point do you tell yourself you're just going to embark on this new journey and focus wholly on it?

I've actually been reading with interest people's comments on e-publishing, particularly given Amazon's Kindle push. A big part of me says get the book onto Kindle, have it out there, do some marketing locally and then get onto the next project.

If anyone has thoughts, they'd be greatly appreciated.


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## TWErvin2 (Nov 7, 2011)

For me, I set priorities. I know some writers say you must write every day. I don't. I get something writing related accomplished most days, and often as I can I write or edit.

You have to believe your work is good enough that if you send it out there, it'll eventually find a publisher willing to take it on. If you don't think you have a good story to tell or the skill to put it together (or both), you probably should consider why you're writing. Maybe there is another goal or motivation. As you mentioned, self-publishing. It staves off rejection (or possible rejection) from agents and/or editors. But in the end, either way you go, if you put your work out there, the readers will either support it or ignore it.

I've had a short bit of success. Nothing big. My second novel is just being released and I've had about a dozen short stories published. Sure, I've made a little money, but really I write because I think I have interesting stories to tell. That's what motivates me and what makes it a priority in the huge list of things I have to accomplish every day, every week, every month.  I've given up a lot of television and other things to make time to write. What would you be willing to give up?--especially if limited time is a big issue.

Just my random two cents.


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## mistertmo (Nov 8, 2011)

Thanks Terry...

As you can imagine, it's good to hear (even though I already know) I'm not the only one trying to expand the 24 hours we are entitled to in a day. I'm glad you mention the "write every day" rule - it's easy to get down when a day comes and goes and I haven't gotten anything done. Which can happen as I work for a chamber of commerce so a typical work day can be 8-5 then an evening event that gets me home at 10 p.m. I appreciate the sentiment of getting SOMETHING done, so on those days I've taken to turning the radio off on my commute and spending that time planning my next chapter or next plot twist. It's been effective, for sure.


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## ferrybaj (Nov 22, 2011)

Managing our time as writers is not that real easy. It needs focus to be able to get things done. 

Personally, as what was also suggested, I set daily priorities (I even automate them using a time monitoring tool) and allocate a fixed amount of hours to work on them. I make sure I have to follow everything or else my schedule will be messed up. After a day's work, I see to it that I've accomplished everything of which I then set my priorities for the next day.

That method/technique works for me. It needs a bit of focus and discipline too.


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