So yesterday, around the time I had half an hour between coming home and starting the raid (2/7 Heroic, yes!) I thought to myself, it seems that I have very little time for stuff these days. I mean, all the activities that I do that take up my time are things that I want to do, but when do I actually have free time?
So I made a spreadsheet to work it out.
So the white space is time that I actually have free. I mean, the Orange parts, where I’m walking to or from work, or getting ready for bed, don’t take me the whole hour, so I have a little more time than represented. And of course some things, like LARP, roleplaying and tabletop don’t happen every week.
But it just made me think. On an full week I have 36 free spaces. And let’s be fair, being a lazy person I can spend quite a lot of those weekend spaces sleeping. I’s my one true vice.
The reason I’ve been thinking about this is that I’m currently editing my novel. Currently I am doing this with comments in the word document. But honestly? I really want to get out my highlighters, coloured pens, and start marking the paper copy I have printed out up. I just really want to feel the paper and pens in my hands. It’s almost like a craving.
However the problem with that is I need to be at home, with my folder and highlighters and pens. And from the graph above, you can see that it’s a bit of a rare thing. Admittedly, I could have done a lot more on Monday/Tuesday, but instead me and my boyfriend were playing Pokemon. He’s got Omega ruby, I’ve got Alpha Sapphire. We beat up the elite four and the champion. It was epic, but I digress.
Finding time to do things is hard. And given the past week, it is very easy for me to just flop on the sofa and then not get up again until bedtime (Being on a VLCD isn’t helping with energy levels either). What I need is a little more discipline to find the time, it’s the same thing as it was with NaNoWriMo. The work will get done when I make the time for it at home. This may mean I don’t get to read that book, or play Pokemon. But even if I can just squeeze in a half hour everyday, that’ll make a difference.
Of course it would make a big difference if I just did it on the computer, but considering I can’t have the food I’m craving at the moment, I’m in no position to deny this writing craving.
You’d think after finding the time to write a novel it would be easy to keep finding the time to continue and edit it. But apparently not. Oh well, I think I can squeeze in a hour before kickboxing today, and this weekend is looking rather clear as well. So if I can get my butt into gear, I should be able to get quite a bit done.
The spreadsheet was a great idea. I feel like I’m short on time too. Maybe I’ll give it a shot. I feel ike I really need my down time though. It’s going to be tough!!
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It is super tough, I agree. Especially when my main goal for every weekend is sleep. But I managed to edit the first chapter of my book yesterday, and then watched a film with the boyfriend. I called it good. 🙂
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I love that you found a visual way to lay this out. Using the same tools, can you lay in a block for your writing, then move it about until you find the right mix?
I’d suggest more than half an hour, too. Or put your writing block where nothing else will be effected if you go over time.
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