Getting organized

Deb's comment on yesterday's post reminded me of an interesting book by Phyllis Whitney, an author whose works I read in high school. (Anybody remember "Step to the Music?") In her book "Writing Juvenile Fiction," she tells that, at a young age, she "quit her day job" and found a way to support herself with her writing. She was actively writing almost up until her death last year at the age of 104.

In the book Whitney described how she planned her work, scheduling her most difficult task - book writing - in the morning, when she felt she was at her sharpest and best. She used the afternoons to work on articles, speeches and the like. She also made all of her research do double duty. For instance, if she did a lot of research about the garment industry, she used it as a backdrop for both a young adult novel and an adult work.

We all have to find the system that works for us, but I'm convinced that we are like ships without a rudder until we develop one and discipline ourselves to stick with it, charting our course for better writing. If you have a good system, share it here!

Blogging, Day Two

Yes, I know that's a lame heading. As I mentioned yesterday, I'm trying to build some discipline, and it's a bit of a struggle for me. Please bear with me. I'm looking at a mound of papers that need to be dealt with, emails to be responded to, lists of writing contests and freelance options to explore, and an old diary to transcribe, and I'm trying to figure out what to do first. Ultimately I will have to decide NOT to do some things--and that's difficult for a semi-manic optimist like me.

In my befuddled mind, all things are possible, and all I have to do is keep plugging away. My sane half knows that would be true if there were unlimited hours in the day and unlimited days in life. There aren't, so I need to prioritize. With a new book that needs to be promoted, a new issue of a historical society magazine to put together, a new writers' retreat to plan, I feel as though I'm standing before a loaded buffet table with a very tiny plate. I want to have it all, but how? It's a nice problem to have. To borrow an expression rapidly becoming trite, life is good.

So what are you working on? Or aren't you? What pushes your choices around? Drop a note here.