Rachel Hauck, Susan May Warren, My Book Therapy

NaNoWriMo Success Tip: How to balance your time!

Listen, I know you’re all swamped with working, running a household and writing NaNo. You probably don’t even have time to read this blog. But in the chance you do, I thought I’d give you a few tips that help me juggle my life as MBT Head Coach, being a sports mom and writing.

Establish a set time every day, or every other day to write and keep this time sacred. Block it out on your calendar. If you only write “when you can,” then there will always be things that will get in the way…from walking the dog to making chocolate chip cookies… Set a time, and keep that appointment with yourself, telling yourself you are investing in your dreams.
Keep a writing Journal and every day log what you have done, and your goals for the next day. You will access different sides of your brain as you are writing than you do when you are working, and instead of always keeping both sides active, if you write down where you were and where you want to go each day, you can let your creative side “rest” while you are at work, knowing you can pick right back up when you return to your writing enclave.

The Reason We Write

My friend, Lori, posted this quote on my Facebook page last week:

“We write to taste life twice.” ~Anais Nin, author

I think she posted the quote for two reasons:

I love quotes. Love, love, love them.
I am a writer who often wrestles with the why of writing. You know what I mean: Why do we willingly do all of this? The writing. The rewriting. The deadlines.
I think my friend read that quote and thought, “Beth will ‘get’ this.”

And I did.

But I did more than read the quote and think, “Good one.” I pondered the quote for a day or two … until it became this blog post.

Two Tips to Get Past “I Can’t Write”

I’m on deadline.

What that means is, writing is mandatory for me. I have a title for my manuscript. A word count. Most importantly, I have a due date. And yes, barring some unforseen catastrophe such as an alien invasion or Godzilla rampaging through Colorado Springs, I will meet my deadline. (I am not thinking about any real disasters that can happen to writers everywhere.)
But let me honest with you: there are days I don’t feel like writing.

I write anyway.