It's A Matter Of Time

Okay, so I think I'm one of the most impatient people on the planet. This, mixed with the snail's pace of publishing, is not really the best mix.

Or maybe it's my snail's pace of revision that makes the months melt into years. Just when I think I've got the story figured out, there always seems to be something else suggested or discovered that makes total sense. You know those moments where you go, "Why didn't I think of that?" Especially after you've worked on a novel for several rounds.

Yeah, that's about where I am. I enjoy the process of revision. The tightening of character and plot, the re-imagining of scenes, the weaving together of story lines.

But every once in a while, there's a little voice in the back of my mind that whispers, "I wish you'd just gotten it right the first time. Then we wouldn't have wasted all these months."

Sometimes I listen to that voice. I feel a little bit anxious about the pace of publishing -- or my perceived pace of those publishing around me. I worry over things I can't control.

Sometimes I just tell that voice, "Sometimes it's just a matter of time." Sometimes I need time to think on a book, it's plot and character. Sometimes I need time away from a project. Sometimes I need time to work on a project. And none of it is wasted. I hope that in the novels I write in the future, I'll remember some of the lessons I've learned through really working on a novel for an extended period of time.

How about you? Have you ever spent so much time working on a novel that you're entertaining voices in your mind? (Ha!) Is it really just a matter of time until you get things right? (Please say yes!)

Eureka! That's It!

I'm so sick of time. It goes too fast. Like my son turned 11 a few weeks ago. E. Lev. En. That's old, in case you didn't know. Which means, *I'm* old. OLD.

Where did the time go? I remember when he was born. When he lost his first tooth. The first day of kindergarten. I remember when he ran his scooter into a parked truck. Got his first round of stitches.

Good times.

Here's the thing. Time fascinates me. I can't stop thinking about it. I have a job that requires me to be on time, no matter what. My lunch is at a certain time for a certain number of minutes. It cannot be moved or extended. Many times I wonder to myself, "What if I just drove away and never came back? What would happen then?"

Last spring, I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That was a big mistake because A) no one told me it was fifty thousand hours long and B) now I can't stop thinking about what life would be like if time moved backward. It plagues me. Begs me to think of some way to write it into a story. I've written about how time stops for a moment, but I've never made it go backward. There's something about time travel that scares the 1.21 Gigawatts right out of me.

I also find myself speculating on what life would be like if there simply was no time. No way to measure the years of our life, the hours in our day, the minutes we find so precious. My life is run by a clock. Sometimes I hate it. What if that simply disappeared? What would your life be like without time?

I swear I'm going to tie this to the title of this post, which is, in case you forgot, Eureka! That's it!

Do you have anything like this wafting around in your brain? I'm in the middle of a novel right now, but I just know that these floating ideas are going to come together one day and I'm going to have a holy-crap-I-just-figured-it-out! moment where every thought I've had about time will explode into my next novel. I'm hoping this will happen before November so I can participate in NaNo.

Has this happened for you? (The Eureka!-I've-got-it! moments, not the time obsession. *snarf*) If so, how long did the idea stew before coming to fruition? Do share. I've got nothing but time.

Freed Up To Write

Finding time to write is one of the things that I think all writers struggle with.  For me, it's been pretty easy--until now.  I have a three-day weekend every weekend, I don't work in the summer, and my husband pretty much lets me do what I want.  So since I started writing, I've been glued to the laptop.  But I've realized that writing can't be the only thing I ever do. So I've been managing my time a little better, and keeping my house cleaner, and making dinner more.  

All of which cuts into the time I used to spend writing or editing. I've come up with some solutions that don't take away from my responsibilities as a wife and mother.  

1.  I write during my 30-minute lunch. I may only get in a few paragraphs, but at least it's something.

2.  I check my email and chat boards as soon as I get home.  My son isn't home from school yet, and my daughter can usually eat a snack and watch a cartoon during this time.  Once my son is home, the computer goes away so I can spend time with the kids.

3.  I write/edit/whatever after my kids go to bed.  That's around 9, and by 10 or so I'm dead tired.  I force myself to stay up a little bit if I have a good vibe, but I pay for it the next day.

4. I haven't volunteered to read someone else's work for about a month.  The time I spend reading and critiquing their work is time away from mine--and from my family. So I've cut down on that.  I still have a couple from a long time ago that need to be done, but they'll have to be in bits and pieces.  I have to keep up on my critique groups and I sometimes do those during lunch, too.

So all in all, I've cut my computer time by several hours each day, but I think I've managed to find a balance between writing and real life.  I haven't been able to meet my goal of 1000 words a day for quite a while, but in the long run, it doesn't matter. I'm still writing every day and that's what counts.