a poem a pic a day: day 11

A Warning of heat

danger flame game

A dare of Adventure

BLAZE

The color of rage

the lure of Seduction

Tempt and Taunt…FATE

Cool and calm…WAIT

Passion, petals, purse … of the lips

Feel the dangerous burn of my kiss

Progress!

As a full-time working mom of two, finding time to write, organize and submit is a challenge.  I know many of you can relate. 

In one of the writer groups I belong to a fellow “writing mom” posed the question: how do you find time to write?

My suggestions are:

1.  Set realistic goals. If you have two kids under the age of three, maybe sending out two queries a week isn’t possible.  I use the “Sidetracked Writer’s Planner” found here to help keep me organized, focused and forward moving. Or just jot down your goals, be specific: i.e. write an essay for Skirt! Magazine following their theme list and deadline.
2. Get a support team: talk to your spouse or partner about your goals and the uninterrupted time you need to accomplish them. Switch off dinner duty or the bedtime routine. Last night my dear husband had a movie night with the boys. I locked the bedroom door, turned on the fan for white noise and had a solid 90 minutes to write a rough draft and organize my calendar and deadlines.
3. Some great tips are being posted on Christina Katz’s Writer Mama Blog, not to mention her inspiring and realistic advice given in her book: Writer Mama (Writers Digest Books.) I used the tips given in her book to sell my two first articles!
4. Be selfish. OK, maybe “selfish” is too harsh a word. But I am a firm believer that I can only be a better mom, wife, friend, person if I am pursuing my passions. I am more pleasant to be around. I am practicing what I preach to my children: “Never give up!”

 

One month Challenge update:Progress! I completed 6 project sheets, with action steps needed to complete each project; I found three contests with October deadlines and mapped out a time table to write and rewrite; I transferred all the floating pages, note cards, etc. of ideas into the binder under Idea Inventory; I labeled the covers of my notebooks to better sort my writing according to genre: Essays, Fiction, Non-Fiction Articles (so far!)

What’s on your to do list? How are you accomplishing your goals?