I’m just starting week seven of this writing for a living business (and it is a business). I still wake up with those butterflies in my stomach at the realization that I’m not driving into work. I feel a little guilty and a lot nervous — but so incredibly happy.
And the writing is going very well. It’s taking me a while to find exactly the best — most productive — schedule, but even so, I’m getting a lot done. The challenge is fnding time to get anything else done. Once I sit down to write, it’s very hard to tear myself out of that creative cocoon.
Also even doing it full-time, I’m not writing as fast as I thought I would. I only get about two thousand words done a day — occasionally twenty-five hundred — but maybe that will change once I work out the perfect schedule.
The real challenge is finding time to exercise.
And my body needs it — sitting on my duff all day is really hard on everything. Figuratively and literally.
I’ve started waking up at five and getting all the email out of the way. Then I was doing about fifteen minutes of yoga, but I feel like I need more at this point. I follow the yoga with an hour of gardening — just to try and work some real life activity in (plus my garden needs it after nearly a year and a half of neglect). Then I come in, make breakfast and settle down at the laptop. And, other than running downstairs for more cups of tea and to make myself lunch (which I eat at the computer), I don’t move again until four or five when I do my two miles. After which it’s either back to the computer — unless I feel like I’m on schedule, in which case I give myself the evening off.
Everyone keeps telling me I’m going to burn out. I don’t feel that, but I do feel like I need more movement in my day.
I’m actually much more faithful about working out now than when I was working the day job, but I used to walk all through my day, so I have the uneasy feeling I may be getting less all round activity. Maybe not.
Something else I’ve noticed: it is really difficult to focus your mind for six and seven hour shifts, versus the shorter bursts that I’ve been conditioned to. It’s…tiring.
So what’s your writing schedule like? How do you work in time for working out — or do you? How many hours a day do you sit writing? How many words a day do you manage to get done? How fit do you think you are?
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I’m in the opposite mode from you, Diana - just starting a new full-time job after a few years of writing about five hours a day for 4-5 days a week.
I was in a slump a few years ago and thought maybe I had too much time to write - it wasn’t precious enough anymore (in previous years I had to find time around kiddie schedules). I was wasting it and producing maybe 500 words a day.
Then last year, I finally hit my stride and was really productive with almost every day a work day, almost all day. And I was writing about 3000 words a day. But I stopped yoga and grocery shopping, and walking, and…
Now, I’m going to be lucky if I can squeeze in an hour and a half a day. But maybe it will be like it was a decade ago - almost being late for pre-school pick-up because I was so into my two hours of writing that I forgot where I was.
It’ll be interesting. Hope I find the balance right along with you.
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This is always tricky for me–I’ve been writing full-time for about 15 months now. I try to keep my mornings clear–I don’t make appointments–and if I can write for 1-2 hours that’s good. I can usually get about 1500 words in. Then I try to go to the gym between 11 and 12. In the afternoon, I enter what I wrote into the document on my laptop (I write in longhand in the mornings) and give it my first edit. I usually end up adding anywhere from 100-400 words.
The afternoons are for errands, grocery shopping, etc. before the kids come home.
This of course is a perfect day. It doesn’t happen often.
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On average, I can manage about 750 words an hour. If I’m not being lazy, usually work 1-2 hours in the evenings. However, I made the decision to start working more during the day and keep the evenings for writing new words. My old schedule was write new words on weeknights and edit on the weekends. Now I’ll be editing during the day and writing at night. I’ve got too much to do to slack off anymore.
Oh, and after my recent go-round with the scale, I discovered I really need to fit in some exercise time.
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I try to write everyday. I work best in the morning so if I can, I write from 9:30-11:30 and then come back after lunch and a walk from 1-2:30. Then I clean. I also clean when I get stuck. Scrubbing a toilet is very productive.
Later, I might edit or reread but seldom does any new stuff get written.
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I’ve probably mentioned it before, but I integrate my exercise and writing. The master of multitasking. I use exercise as a warm-up and plotting time. Usually I read the last bit of work I’ve done, put my ipod on some mindless dance music with a fast beat and walk. I stare at the road ahead and concentrate on what I just read. Pretty soon, I start working out the plot and dialog in my head.
A few keys: little or no words to the music you’re walking through, no talking or socializing and move quickly.
When I’m done with 3 or 4 miles, I have something to write and I’m energized to do it.
I’m limited to lunch hours and some evenings to write and my goal is 4,000 to 5,000 words per week.
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I’m glad you’re enjoying the full-time writing gig. 
Right now I’m managing one to two pages a day which is actually pretty good for me. I’d rather do that consistently than three or four pages one day and a paragraph the next.
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Well, for me it depends on the day. Before the move, I was getting up at 5:30 to workout for an hour, then get the kids off to school. After that, I’d try to write for 1-2 hours. On a good day I can get in anywhere from 700 to 1000 words (sometimes more, sometimes not!) Then it’s off to run errands and pick up the kids from school. Of course, very few days are normal days.
Since the move, the only workout I’ve done is lug boxes from one room to another!
by Sara
on September 17th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
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Hey, Reggie, maybe it’s the same principal as earning as much as you spend — if you’ve got the time, the temptation is to spread the work out over however much time there is. I’ve only really increased my writing by about 500 - 1000 words a day, but I will say that now it’s every single day, and before there would be many days when the job simply didn’t permit me to take lunch or leave before 7:00 at night.
And, like I said, I am much more faithful about working out now — although when I have to cut something, it’s always the first thing to go.
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I’m in the opposite mode from you, Diana - just starting a new full-time job after a few years of writing about five hours a day for 4-5 days a week.
Hey, by the way, good luck with the new job!!!
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This of course is a perfect day. It doesn’t happen often.
That’s the trick — finding the balance. If you don’t permit yourself any kind of a life, what kind of experiences are you going to draw on for your writing?
And of course there’s that rule about pacing yourself.
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Oh, and after my recent go-round with the scale, I discovered I really need to fit in some exercise time.
Hey, B.E., the thing I find — and have to keep reminding myself of — is that I actually have more energy and focus after I work out. I understand it intellectually, but I still haven’t got to the point where I embrace it emotionally.
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Patti, I find gardening useful for the same reason — I work out a lot of dialog while I’m playing in the mud.
And, on the rare occasions when I give in and do housework, I’m usually working through the next few scenes.
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Will, that’s truly making productive use of that time.
Three to four miles? I can see I need to bump up the mileage on my evening walk.
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Tori, I agree. Consistency is more important than word count. Staying “in” the story, keeping the flow matters more — I think that keeps the quality of the writing even.
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Sara, having been there and done that, I think lugging boxes is its own brutal workout!
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Diana, my prime time is 9-11:30. If I’m on a roll I can go longer. But it is very hard for me to plunk myself down in the afternoon or evening and write. I need to change that as my schedule changes in the upcoming weeks so your post comes at a good time.
As for whether I feel fit? There are days where I feel like I’ve sat so long at the computer I can almost *feel* my backside spreading. I now do Pilates every morning. I liked Patti’s idea of incorporating a walk in with lunch. I bet that helps chase away some of the fog.
by Laura
on September 17th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
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As for whether I feel fit? There are days where I feel like I’ve sat so long at the computer I can almost *feel* my backside spreading.
Ain’t that the truth! I have a theory that our butts grow to accomodate whatever the size our desk chair is. Not THAT’S a scary thought!
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