Today is June's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.
Why am I an Insecure Writer this month?
Time. Or the lack thereof.
I know a lack of time is a problem for all writers, at least the ones with day jobs, but it’s a topic that’s been on my mind quite a bit lately. Being a glacially slow writer has always made me sensitive to the passage of time, but these past few months have magnified the problem—in part because of all the time I’ve spent prepping the garden.
Still I wonder if I’m trying to do too many things. I meet with a local critique group once or twice a month—and may be about to join another group. I exchange critiques with my CPs as well as with an online group. I try to keep up with other writing blogs as well as post on mine. (Nothing makes me cringe more than seeing how much work Alex puts into his blog. He must have an army of clones or something.)
I haven’t gone to any writing conferences, but I have attended several online classes, including a session hosted by Jami Gold demonstrating how to set up a WordPress blog. (BTW, I still owe her a testimonial). And, of course, I’m working on my own stories.
Like I said before, I know time is a problem for all of us. But that doesn’t mean I can’t bitch about it on the first Wednesday of the month.
Yeah, I know it’s a short post, but I ran out of time.
Time is a great destroyer of all projects. I have a bunch of side stuff I'm trying to do while I write, and, well... let's just say things aren't going so well.
ReplyDeleteOnly you can know if you're doing too many things. I go back and forth about large critique groups, so I don't know if that's absolutely golden, or if you are spreading yourself too thing. Good luck one way or the other.
I always love visiting your site because I LOVE that picture of the castle!!!!! Phew. But YES. I get this. You're soooo spot on, Ken. I wish I had the answer! :/
ReplyDeleteHere from Alex's blog. Love your set up, really cool!!! I'm a huge Harry Potter fan so the castle caught my attention. I'm now a follower.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I can certainly relate to your struggles with time. I'm barely able to eek out four or five hours a week to write. No wonder it's taken me four years (and counting) to complete the third draft of my novel. Guess it's better than the alternative. At least we're getting some writing in. Best of luck. Looking forward to getting to know you better through your posts.
I've been cracking down on meeting my writing goal everyday and now other things slide. Time is always an issue. We do what we can, and we learn to prioritize. Not a great answer, I know, but it's all I've got.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to overwhelm ourselves. Sometimes we just need to step back and let things do what they will, being flexible enough to do whatever it is we feel we need to do at the time.
ReplyDeleteIt is a common problem, you think some one would have come up with a time generator by now. Of course it might help my lack of time problem if I wasn't spending all day surfing blogs and posting online... nah!
ReplyDeleteJami and Alex are my heroes. I'm not worthy...
ReplyDeleteIWSG# 123, until Alex culls the list again. :)
So are you switching to Wordpress? And how are you going to help me edit? But then, I bet you're like me and edit a lot faster than you write.
ReplyDeleteI attended a class by Matthew Kirby at the Orlando SCBWI workshop today. He has two books a year coming out from now to 2017. Guess what? He checks into a hotel and writes for two weeks straight with 3 hours of sleep a night when his deadline get close. But he says he's going to start writing as if it's his job because he quit his day job 2 years ago. I sure would love to be able to write in the day.
I'm planning on switching over to Wordpress sometime after the end of the year. I enjoy Blogger, but I'll eventually be posting my Hogwarts story on my website and Google's terms of service suggest that they can do what they wish to anything posted on the blogger sites.
DeleteMust be fun to be able to write as fast as Matthew.
And yes I still plan on helping you edit
I definitely share your frustrations with time. I'll claw my way out of one time-crunch and immediately land square in the middle of another.
ReplyDelete