Hello and welcome to another episode in the monthly blog hop for Insecure Writers! Writers from across the land join forces to share our tales of woe! JOIN US!
Today marks a bit over one month that I jumped off the regular day job train and moved to full time writer. Ya want insecure? This chick has serious insecurities!
I do have a back list of books (book 16 comes out this month) and a wee pension. But this is scary stuff!
I knew from the start I needed a plan and a schedule that works for me. Right now that means working 5 days a week (I take Wed and Sat off). Starting at a mostly set time, but for this month I am keeping a timesheet to see how much time I am spending (last month was too all over the place ;)). I have set daily and weekly word counts, plus trying to working in advertising time, newsletters, blogs, etc. Still a major WIP ;).
I'm finding that some folks get it, others don't.
I've had friends who figure that since I retired from my day-job, I'm free to do whatever I or they want. I explain I am working--and they just shrug and again say I can do what I want.
In a way, they are right. I can.
But what I want is to build a stronger writing career. To do that, I need a routine. When I worked at the old day job, I'd get up at 4:30/5 am to write before work. After dinner, I'd write. Weekends--I'd write.
I had a schedule (it was a bit intense, but it worked ;)).
Now, I literally can do what I want. BUT to achieve my goals, I have to have a schedule, a routine to keep me going. I write in set word chunks. Right now, it's 4 chunks of 750 words each (goal at this point is 3,000 a day). When I hit my goal for that section--I stop.
Yes, I could keep going (and will go a bit over) but it's important for me to know that I hit my goal and now get a 10 min break. If I pushed past that goal, I'd run out of steam. Also, it really helps when the words are coming slowly, to look at my counter and remind myself I can stop in 345 words (or wherever I'm at ;)).
I know many writers say they must write everyday. For me having those two days off is wonderful. Now, I might take part of a day if something pops up and causes a pivot (lost time on Saturday because I was behind on edits). But knowing I have those days to recharge really helps.
I'm still building balance in my schedule-- keep to the daily word count, not cram all the words in a few days. And learning to accept that I will have to pivot. When I get stressed about this whole thing, I cling to the schedule like a life raft. I am learning that as long as it's moving me forward in terms of the over-all goal, pivots are okay.
I'm insecure, but I'm trying to get better :).
What makes you feel insecure?
Happy IWSG day!
