I’m married to the hottest of man on the planet (my opinions are my own and not necessarily those of others
) and have two ridiculously awesome boys, 11 and 2.
I have two bosses (who run a total of 17 restaurants) who I support from my dwelling in the basement.
There are restaurant dealings to manage, a family of four that needs to be fed three times a day, diapers (ugh, seriously?), schoolwork to help with, house-cleaning, errands… You get the gist.
It’s a lot for someone as selfish as I am. (Yes, selfish. Just ask my hubs. He’ll tell you. I even have the T-shirt to prove it.)
All that and I can write a novel in five weeks. This is where the questions come in to play.
NOW, I haven’t started and finished a novel all year, but to be fair, I’ve had a lot going on in this here writing life and it’s a bit distracting. I started this year polishing my novel for querying,
then took a mentor workshop with the outstanding Cathy Yardley to make sure my submission package was golden. Then there was the query process by late spring/early summer and you know how that is. Then the requests over the entire summer. Then the re-submissions during late summer. Then the actual signing with my Jedi Master agent who is amazing. (AMAZING!! I need way more exclamation points there, but…) Now the submission process which has been a whirlwind of awesome. Who can focus through all that? Give me that person’s number so we can converse, because seriously? I just can’t do it. I have been project jumping like a boss.
I have no clear answer to the time management. What I can tell you is that you have to carve out time every day. I freely admit I’m lucky in my home life. I tell my hubs I need to write and he sees guilt-free Playstation time. My kids are practically self-sustaining. Even the 2-year-old. VERY independent.
I do things like set up my laptop on the kitchen counter while cooking dinner—it’s like cooking a bonus side dish.
Having worked in a restaurant atmosphere since I crawled out of diapers (not literally), I never waste a step. Consolidation is key. Clean/pick up as you walk by. Or as they say in the industry, full hands in, full hands out.
When that fails, put on your Mom hat and shout orders to the crew. Divide and conquer. Who says you have to run the family all by yourself? They all have just as many hands as you do, and I’m willing to bet they even work.
Trust me when I say, you can make the time.
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ReplyDeleteImpressive, Misty! And, yes, as a former restaurant server, myself (3 1/2 yrs total experience) I learned the term "full hands in/full hands out" well. ...I also learned several naughty words in Spanish and how to do body shots, but that's another story entirely... ;)
ReplyDeleteYES!! The Spanish naughties...I know those well:) I learned how to drink at the bar until the wee hours and which fibs to tell hubs to stay out of trouble:)
ReplyDeleteYou wrote this for me, didn't you? ;) Most days, as you know, there needs to be 2 of me running around. But I'm listening. Mom is about to delegate some of this crap, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Charissa on this one. There always needs to be 2 of me. I heard some great advice from an author and he said to set a goal to write x amount of pages a day. It can be one paragraph or one page...whatever it is, you stick to it no matter what. But make sure it is a realistic goal. With a full time job, if I were to take on writing a novel, it would only be a paragraph a day LOL! I am amazed that you found time to write a whole novel in 30 days Misty! Your amazing...Need I say more :)
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