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Time Management for the Unmanageable
By Ruth Schiffmann
Manage my writing time? Hah! I don't like being told what to do-- even by
myself. As soon as I make a to-do list, the rebel in me must go to the mall.
Tell me I have free nights and weekends and I'll have urgent calls to make 7
a.m. Monday morning.
Advise me to manage my writing time to balance home, family, and office and I
immediately become unbalanced.
Every well-meaning article I've read on the subject advises: get up early, write
every day. If I hear that advice one more time I'm going to toss my magnetic
poetry like year-old fruitcake.
Professional organizers have taken over our country. From our homes to our time,
experts on every channel tell us how to manage our lives. But we are not all
Peter Walsh. For me, watching him Clean Sweep through people's lives is pure
entertainment. The fun of watching is something akin to watching Tom Cruise
dangle inches above an alarmed floor in the Pentagon. It is so far from reality
that I sit, slack-jawed and mesmerized by the absurdity of it all.
My kind of organization is knowing my shoes are in one of five places. My
toothbrush is in one of the rooms with running water. If my purse isn't in the
house, it's in the minivan under last night's fast food bags.
To take my writing and assign a compartmentalized time frame to it will siphon
away bits of the decadence I feel when stealing away moments at the computer as
a story comes together. As soon as it becomes a real job, I'm going to look for
ways to play hooky.
Some of the times I feel most productive are when I'm in "mommy mode" up to my
elbows. The shock to my system of a quiet moment while running errands spurs
original thoughts, plots, or character quips.
Loading the kids into the minivan for a playground break sends the excitement of
a clandestine meeting tingling from toes to fingertips. I once wrote an entire
children's book in a 3 x 5 notebook, seated on a park bench while my children
were occupied with flying rings and monkey bars.
Folding laundry and vacuuming don't keep me from my craft. The rote actions
occupy my analytic, left brain, allowing my creative side to soar.
Even the earth-conscious-mommy's mantra "recycle, reduce, reuse" comes into play
when I resurrect old stories and rework them towards new markets.
I won't stifle my creativity by putting too much pressure on myself. Instead, I
enjoy bits of productivity: jotting down notes, feeling ideas flow, reaching for
the flashlight in bed to scribble promising dialogue. These writing moments
squeezed out throughout the day are more rewarding than agonizing over a
write-on-demand schedule. They are like chocolate chips nestled in a warm
cookie-more satisfying than sitting down and gorging on the whole bag of
morsels.
Manage my writing time? Maybe, but my taskmaster is my heart, not the clock.
Ruth Schiffmann shares the trials and triumphs of freelance writing with her
husband and their two daughters. She is also a stay at home homeschooling mom.
Her stories and articles for children, teens, and adults have been published
both in print and online. Currently she is working on illustrations to accompany
the picture book she wrote on one of her visits to the playground. Visit her at
www.RuthSchiffmann.com.
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