Writing Now Instead of Wishing Later that You'd Done It

By Elaine L. Orr

I'm going to do something I don't usually do in a blog anymore, which is publicize a book that's been out for a while. 

Let's assume you would like to write some fiction or nonfiction. The issue is whether you can add that to your plate, or if next year would be better. There’s always next year, right? Next year always comes, but not with more than 24 hours in each day.

Sharing What I've Learned

That's why I wrote Writing When Time is Scarce and Getting the Work Published. It's free(through June 27, 2023) and the Kindle version is only 99 cents in all countries. If you don't read this post right away, it's still a bargain for you. The paperback is also inexpensive because I didn't write this book to make money. I wrote it to share what I learned in a way that may help other writers.

If you think you have, "no time," you may be able to rethink your activities and pare down some responsibilities or hobbies. Perhaps this book will help you get a better sense of time involved in writing blogs or books (or anything else). Then you can figure out what to cut or reprioritize.

The Most Basic Point

One thing is definite. If you allocate a certain time of the day or given day to writing, you are more likely to make progress. If you let those most close to you know you plan to write a few hours per week, you can more easily designate time to do so. 

What you don’t want is to reach a certain age and say, “If only I’d started earlier.”

This book will help you figure out it’s not about turning your life upside down. It could be about two more hours per week. If you can find it, I can show you how to go from rough draft to published author -- whether you do all the work yourself or work with a publisher. Check out the chapters:

1. Thinking Through the Writing Option

2 Setting Aside Time & Resources to Write

3 The Publishing Environment

4 Options for Types of Writing

5. Feedback and Proofing

6 Types of Publishers and Questions for Them

7. If You Do Decide to Self-Publish

8 Preparing to Publish: Ebook Formatting

9. Paperbacks with Amazon KDP

10. Paperbacks with Barnes and Noble and Ingram Spark

11. Online Tools To Create Book Covers

12. Business Basics of Retail Accounts

13. How Retail Sales Sites Differ

14. Loading Ebooks to Online Retailers

15. Producing Audiobooks

16. Selling What You Write

17. BONUS CHAPTER! Articles, Short Stories, and Blogs: Brief Can be Mighty

Why should you read a book I've written? 

 For years I wrote in bits and pieces because I had busy jobs. Most of those early products will never see daylight, but they did teach me a lot about writing. I kept reading books on writing, taking classes and...writing. Finally, I was ready to publish -- and put out 25 book in 7 years (I'm now up to 31.). 

Your path may be different, but the route doesn't start until you make the time to write.

Ready, set, write!

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To learn more about Elaine L. Orr, visit her website or sign up for her newsletter.

Is it Story or Structure?

I may not have any business writing about the story/structure dilemma, because I wrestle with both. Some would say this is the difference between pantsers and plotters (the former said to be writing by the seat of their pants). I do a bit of both.

My philosophy is a writer should never let a good story get away from them because they can't fathom the ending when they start. Got an idea? Grab a keyboard or a napkin and write for a few minutes. You might get an opening scene on paper or a few bullet points about how you want the story to develop. If you don't jot down the ideas, they will be gone or diluted.

Here are some recommendations for putting together a novel To be clear, all authors start with the story in mind, it's simply a question of what they do with that initial idea.

Craft of Writing
Jane Cleland
Jane has been offering some free seminars lately. Click on Events on her site. Her books on structure and plot twists are very helpful.

Helping Writers Become Authors
K.M. Weiland
Her website and blog have years of material. People roll their eyes at the word outline, but her material on it may change your mind.

Story Trumps Structure
Steven James
His focus is more on his own writing than teaching, but this book makes his preference clear.

There is still the basic point. No story is written until you put your buns in a chair (or on a bar stool, as Hemingway might have said). I address that in my book, Writing When Time is Scarce and Getting the Work Published.

Get started. Don't stop. Don't get discouraged. Tomorrow is another day.

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For more information on Elaine's 30+ books, go to https://www.elaineorr.com or subscribe to her newsletter.

Managing Time to Write

I have a confession to make. I would get a lot more written if I were more methodical in the time of day that I write. I do work on fiction most days. If I'm not writing, I'm thinking about it. That counts as work.

What I don't do is get up, make a cup of coffee, and write. No distractions, just get that 2,000 words in before 9 AM.

I have excuses. We don't have expanded cable, so the only time I can watch the news is 7 AM or 5:30 PM (in the Midwest). So what? Will the world change if I don't watch? It was so easy when I had a small TV with a VCR in it. I have no idea how to use recording capability within the cable system. Probably means I don't have the capability.

I budgeted my time better when I had a day job. In a leadership course long ago, the teacher said, "If you think you manage time better when you have a deadline to meet, it simply means you don't manage your work well the rest of the time."

Bottom line, I need to carve more regular writing time. I can create blocks of time. Others have to write in chunks, which is a bigger challenge. Authors do it. This is from John Grisham’s bio: 

Getting up at 5 AM every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988. 

That might have put an end to Grisham’s hobby. However, he had already begun his next book [The Firm], and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career—and spark one of publishing’s greatest success stories.

Hmm. 5 AM.  Lately I've started waking up about then. I consider it a curse. I wonder if it would do any good to put the coffee maker next to my bed, and have it primed to drip?

Psychologists say a person is more likely to keep a resolution if they tell people about it. Here goes: I am going to begin writing within one hour of getting up each morning.

If anyone else is considering changing their writing time (or working it into an already-busy schedule), here are a couple of good blog posts I found.

How to Find Time to Write, by Melissa Tydell
http://thewritepractice.com/time-to-write/ 

Finding the Time to Write, Linda Rafferty for Writer’s Digest blog
http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/finding-time-to-write
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