How I Do It

Many of you have asked me how I do everything I do. You know, the farming and virtual cooking. The blogging. The blog reading. The query lettering. The reading. The working. The family stuff. Sleeping. And, oh yeah, don't forget the writing.

Well, strap yourselves in for a math lesson. Hey, I gotta put that math minor to use somehow. I'll be sprinkling in a few things I do along the way.

7 days a week x 24 hours in a day = 168 hours/week.

Sleep: 8 hours x 7 days = 56 hours.

Contrary to popular belief, I sleep 8 hours every night. I'm nothing if not scheduled. And schedules are not broken.

Hours remaining: 112.

Work (including travel time): 6 hours x 4 days = 24 hours.

Special Note: I work a job in front of a computer. I check forums, blogs, etc. and get paid to do it. In fact, I only read blogs while at work. (I blogged about Speed Blogging here.) Thus blogging hours: <24.

And yes, I only work 4 days a week. Don't throw rotten fruit.

Hours remaining: 88.

Writing: 2 hours x 7 days = 14 hours.

I do 95% of my writing between 9 - 11 PM. That's a lot of time if you think about it. Even without my endless three-day weekends, and full summers without employment, I spend a lot of time writing. (And when I say "writing" I mean in all it's forms, i.e. revising.)

My youngest kidlet is 5. She's been potty trained for years. Goes to bed at 8:30 no. matter. what.

My oldest kidlet is 11. He can do almost everything adults can do. Goes to bed at 9:00 no. matter. what. (Take that, super nanny!)

Hours remaining: 74.

Blogging: Posts read at work (see above). I write all my blog posts on the weekend. Sure, I double check the night before, but it's a five-minute thing.

So 5 minutes x 5 days a week = 25 minutes.
Post writing on the weekend: 2 hours. Since I do the once-a-week method for blog writing, I only have to think about blogging once, instead of five separate times. This works for me.

Hours remaining: 71 hours, 35 minutes.

Other kewl facts: I can type 89 words a minute. That's 91.5% faster than everyone else on Facebook, just so you know. *wink*

Twitter/Facebook/Forums: maybe 1-2 hours x 6 days = 6 - 12 hours.

I only tweet at night (or while at work). Here, there, whenever. I try to update Facebook once a day. My FB is organized into "family" "publishing people" and "everyone else". I go through each list, liking and commenting. Time? About 20 minutes. Since FB is blocked by the firewall at work, I do this upon arriving home.

Hours remaining: 60+. 

So there you have it. Some of the things I do in order to get it all done. And even then, I always feel helplessly behind.

What do you do? Schedule your blog reading time? Write while your kids are asleep? Duck into a writing forum during lunch? How do you fit it all in? Whatever "it" may be. Got any tips for me?