Nursing and Time Management

Nursing school prepares you for a lot of stuff. You’ve got to remember medications. What class of medication are the beta blockers? What do the lols do again? Then you’ve got to remember how the body works. The way that each system of the body interacts with the other. Now if your kidneys are malfunctioning, how does that affect the heart? And what do you do if they go into liver failure?

There’s so much to remember, and in the short time that you’re in school, information is being crammed into your head as fast as physically possible. Until you think there’s no more memory space left.

Then comes the day you take the NCLEX, the day that terrified me beyond anything else. Trying to recall everything I’d been taught for the past four years? Staring at up to 275 questions and hoping that I finish above the line? That’s the kind of pressure that nursing school prepares you for.

Here’s what nursing school doesn’t prepare you for: Time Management.

No one cares how well you did in your classes, or how well you did on the NCLEX. In fact, when I was doing my preceptorship, I remember sitting with my preceptor and her friend and they were talking about another nurse. She was really struggling, and she just couldn’t seem to get her work done on time. They commented on the fact that she was a straight A student, and they were both C students in school. The difference was that they knew how to manage their time and prioritize their work.

Grades matter very little in the real world, unfortunately. I remember when I was training a brand new nurse who was really struggling. I was in a facility where the nurse was in charge of twenty patients. That included wound care, medications, notifying doctors and assessments. There was a never-ending list. She couldn’t keep up, and usually, her morning med pass would finish right when she needed to start her noon pass.

I sat down with her and told her my biggest lifesaver. At the beginning of my shift, I look over my list of patients. I go through their medication times and then put them in order of who needs it first. Then I work down the list. Obviously, things change, but as long as I have a general game plan, it makes the day much easier to survive. That way, even if there’s an interruption, I know what goes next on my list once things have calmed down again. I also told her to cluster her care. Does she have a dressing change? Do it when she takes the pills in. She’s already in the room, and that way, she doesn’t have to backtrack to do all of her dressings later in the day. It takes maybe fifteen minutes to go through the list and write it out, but it saves so much time in the long run.

Now that I work in the hospital, I still do the same thing. It’s a little different, since I know that at any point, I could have a discharge or admission, but it’s the same general concept. I have to be aware of the time I’m given and what I need to do within that time. Then I make a plan and work toward it.

Having a Plan

Because I have a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, I’ve been in various management positions over the years. I’ve learned about the importance of having a business plan, of having short and long term goals, and keeping yourself responsible if you don’t make those goals.

Last year, I made the decision to treat my writing like a job. I wasn’t going to treat it like a hobby anymore, writing when I wanted to, or if I wanted to. I was going to have a plan, with long term and short term goals. That was in October.

My long term goals:

Focus on publishing.

Write more.

Then I created short term goals to accomplish those. In fact, I made a schedule for myself, one that I was going to stick to. In the month of October, I was going to outline for NaNoWriMo. In November, obviously I was going to write Book 1 of a brand new story I’d come up with. I told myself to spend at least 2-3 hours a day on writing.

When I first started, I didn’t think I’d be able to do 2-3 hours’ worth of planning in the month of November. Boy, was I wrong! Giving myself a time limit, as well as a plan gave me the chance to explore this world in a way I never imagined possible. I knew my characters inside and out, I knew the setting, and I had a very detailed outline. With it, I wrote book 1 in 14 days. In the next 14, I wrote book 2, which I wasn’t even expecting to do.

In December, I sat down and planned out the rest of the year.

December 10-February 15th. Rewrite Book 1 (I figured giving myself two months would be enough.)

February 16-March 30th – Rewrite Book 2 and send out to betas. (I was a little more ambitious, since I only gave myself a month and a half)

April – second revision of Book 1 during Camp NaNoWriMo (I figured that this wouldn’t be as extensive of a revision, so it wouldn’t need as much time)

May-June – Rewrite Book 2.

July – final revision of Book 1, fine tuning, send out to betas again

August – start sending out Queries of book 1

September – (didn’t have a plan for September)

October – Prepare for NaNoWriMo

November – Write Book 3

I love having a plan, and knowing what I need to focus on. Obviously, I haven’t followed it completely. I finished revisions of Book 1 by January 30^th, which meant I started revisions on book 2 much sooner than expected. Also, in May, instead of editing book 2, I ended up doing a cut edit of book 1, and polishing it so that I was ready to send it out to agents. By that point, I’d already sent it to two rounds of betas, as well as critters on Scribophile. In June, I started sending out queries and working on outlining for book 3 and preparing book 2 for CampNaNoWriMo in July.

Since November 1, I’ve written or edited 640,181 words. I’ve done three revisions of Book 1, and two of book 2. I have a clear outline of book 3, and I’ve even started outlining an unrelated book, which I hope to write in November, along with book 3.

The year before, I’d written one first draft, and done three revisions on different novels. I’ve already exceeded that, and we’re not even back to November.

Having a plan works as long as you keep yourself responsible. I don’t use a lot of rewards, but I’m the kind of person that needs to keep to a schedule, even if it’s self imposed. 

Looking Back to See Ahead

Sometimes, there’s a question in a writer’s mind every once in a while.

Am I getting any better? Is all of this practice and writing getting me anywhere?

Or maybe it’s just me. There’s always those moments of self-doubt. All of this time and effort might seem like a waste if I’m not improving.

Starting in December, I started working on revisions on Commissioned, one of the novels I wrote in November. I started to notice a pattern, and it was enough to give me some encouragement.

Here’s an example of a page I worked on during my fourth revision of Servant of an Empire.

Basically, I rewrote the entire thing. I crossed out each word, each sentence and wrote a new one.

Here’s a page I worked on during this revision of Commissioned. Looks pretty much the same, right?

But here’s the exciting thing. This is the anomaly. Rewriting an entire scene is no longer the norm for me. I’m on my first revision, and here’s a typical page for me.

I’m using more of my original words, and I have less to fix. Even the basic plotline doesn’t require a whole lot of fixing either.

So for me, this is enough encouragement for me to keep going. Practice is paying off, and I believe I’m improving!

How about the rest of you? How do you know when you’re improving?

2016 Goals

A new year means new goals. For the past two years, I’ve written down general goals, but this year, I’m trying something new. My Co-ML for our region and I have decided to push ourselves to write more over the year, and we’re going to be each other’s ‘whip-masters.’ I’ll keep her on track, and she’ll keep me on track.

In the month of December, we started getting together twice a week for at least two hours to write. Usually, at least one of those days, I’m able to stretch it out into four or five hours. With that in mind, I’ve put together a calendar of goals. What I want to be doing each month, what I want to accomplish each month. That way, it’s not a general idea of ‘revise this novel at some point.’

I’m working on revisions for Commissioned, the first book in my new series, and my goal is to finish by February 11^th. So far, I’m halfway through, so I think there’s a high chance I’ll be able to finish by that point.

From there, I have more goals, which I’ve shared with my whip-master, and I’m more than positive she’ll keep me on track.

So I’m not going to share them all here, but I do have other goals I’ve set. Last year, I wasn’t able to meet the 52 books read, but this year, I’m hoping for 45 books. So far I’ve read two, so I’m at least I haven’t fallen behind yet!

What kind of plans do you have for 2016? Do you have someone to keep track of you and your goals?

Post NaNoWriMo

It’s December 7^th, which means that NaNoWriMo has been over for a full week now.

It’s been a long week. It doesn’t help that I did push myself way too hard the last week of November, between picking up extra shifts at work, hosting 3 write-ins and getting together with family the other spare moments I had.

Not that I would have changed any of it…

But last week, I did take a full 3 days off and relaxed. I cleaned, did laundry, FINALLY put up the Christmas tree. I’m the kind of person that pesters her husband into putting up Christmas decorations starting the beginning of November. This year, I was so busy that I didn’t even think about it until December 3^rd.

But I know that it’s not safe to spend too much time away from my writing. I’ve spent the past 30 days creating a habit. Habits are easier to break than make. Fortunately, I have awesome writing friends, and we’ve grown even closer this NaNoWriMo. My Co-ML and I have decided to get together twice a week to keep writing. Plus, I know how much better I work under pressure, so I’m creating my own goals and schedule for her to use to monitor me.

I’ll keep her going too.

So what’s my current goal? Since I finished Commissioned on November 15^th, I felt like enough time had passed for me to start a revision. I did a quick read through on Friday and Saturday so that I could get an idea of what needed to be fixed.

Honestly, it’s a few minor things here and there (add setting, flesh out characters), but nothing like previous novels. I’m not having to delete sections or add entire plot twists. Obsessive planning and plotting have their benefits! I’m hoping to finish this revision by LTUE, my first official writer’s conference! I’m going with a few friends from my NaNoWriMo group, and I’m super excited.

Those are my goals for now! How about the rest of you? How are you doing post NaNoWriMo craze?

Just Write!

This month, I’ve had the chance to talk to a lot more writers than I normally do. It’s amazing to see the different levels that writers are in. I’ve seemed to spend more time with brand new writers, ones on the very beginning of the journey.

What’s really surprised me, is that many of these writers find that the prewriting process, the idea, is much more important than the writing. One young man told me that he’s found that the writing part is most difficult. He told me that he’s written about five pages in the past six months or so. I had another writer tell me that she’s hoping to use NaNoWriMo to finish her novel, since she’s been working on it for about five years.

I don’t know that I’ve ever had that issue. I hear the excuse of ‘no time’ a lot. To me, that seems like an excuse for those who doesn’t make writing a priority. My senior year of college, the last month, right before finals, and before I took one of the most important tests of my life, I wrote an entire novel. Three weeks, while studying for finals, and I wrote over 50,000 words. My Co-ML has 4 kids. Last year, she worked full time, took care of her kids, and finished her 50,000 words in almost 20 days.

It’s possible. Time is something that everyone struggles with. We all get the same amount. 24 hours in a day. What we do with it really shows what we find most important.

This month, I’ve realized how much I’ve let my own writing slip. It’s not been a priority, even though I say that I want to be a writer. I want to write.

I’ve been adjusting my schedule, making sure that I put the time into writing so that I can’t use an excuse when I realize I haven’t been as productive as I meant to be.

How do you find time to write? What kind of sacrifices have you had to make so that you can get writing in?

Writer's Retreat

I just had the best week ever!

Our small writing group has decided to try something completely new, a writer’s retreat. We escaped from real life, and was amazing. When I first told my husband that I would be going on a writing retreat for two days, he told me that I would get bored. Writing, writing and more writing? Wouldn’t I need a break at some point?

Yup.

And that’s why it’s so nice to have such a fantastic group. When I get tired, there’s someone to talk to. We can talk about life, or we can talk about writing. We can bounce ideas off one another, and we can cheer each other one. It’s not that we’re writing nonstop for 8+ hours a day. But we’re keeping at it, which is better than I can say some days.

Actually, I’ve finished more editing in two days than I’d done in over two weeks, so I say that it’s definitely a benefit.

Oh, and did I mention the best part?

No internet.

No distractions.

The left shows how much I got done over the past two weeks, and the right shows how much I did in two days.

Crazy right?

Have any of you been on a writing retreat? Run away from real life so that you could focus on the imaginary worlds in your head?

Back From the Busy

I can’t believe how busy March was.  Isn’t March supposed to be the lamb?  Or the lion?  I’m not sure, but 2015 has definitely come into full swing, and it’s already racing toward December.  At least, that’s how it feels for me.

Yet, despite it all, I’m participating in Camp NaNoWriMo.  Even though I’m busy, one of the things that keeps me most grounded is writing.  Hopefully getting back into the habit will help balance my life.

Normally, for NaNoWriMo, or even Camp NaNoWriMo, I focus on finishing a book, or a draft, or some other big project.  This month, I’ve decided to do things a little differently. 

The Orphans of Jadox is finished and waiting for a query letter to be perfected.  In February, I finished another major revision of The King’s Councilor, and I want it to sit for a while.  The Stone Mason does need some tweaking, but nothing major enough to warrant Camp NaNoWriMo.  Servant of an Empire is being torn apart by Betas, and I’m trying to figure out a plot hole for Jen’s Story (still unnamed). 

So naturally, it’s time to start a new novel, right?

Except, for some reason, I haven’t had any juice.  There’s no plots pouring into my mind, there’s no characters begging for their stories to be told.

I started to panic at the end of last month because I didn’t have anything to work on! 

But then, inspiration struck. 

This month, I’m not writing a novel.  I’m writing a character introduction.  Every day in April, I’ll create a new character and try and figure out what their story is.  Why do we care about this person?  

To add to the challenge, each bio is no longer than 500 words.  (Okay, 510.) 

So far, the past three days have been an interesting experience.  It’s forcing me to write completely differently.  World building?  Thrown in there, only if necessary.  Other characters?  Meh, sometimes.  But I’m more focused on figuring out who the character is, and what they want.  That’s it.  Usually by the time I have that figured out, I’ve almost maxed out my word count.

I’ll try and keep you updated on how it goes!  So far, I’ve found two characters that have intrigued me somewhat.  (Day 1 was a disaster.)

What are the rest of you working on?

What I Learned From Finishing My NaNoWriMo Novel

Remember that novel I started in November?  I finally finished it today! 

The first 50,000 words were easy.  Probably because I was on a deadline.  November, I had my writing group, I was motivated, and the writing sprints made it even easier.

Then December came along and all of the ‘life’ I put on hold came back.  Like cleaning the house and doing laundry.  And work got a little chaotic as well. 

But I did it.  Three weeks later than I was hoping, but I made it!  This is novel number 5 that I’ve written from beginning to end, and it’s unique in several different ways.  All of my other novels are YA Fantasy with magic and romance.  There’s none of that in this novel.  It’s a modern day story of a woman whose dad gets diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  I knew it was going to be hard to write, and even knowing that, I’m still amazed by the work and effort that it took to finish. 

It’s a good idea to try something new every once in a while.  We all get into ruts, and unless we push ourselves, we’ll never grow and learn.

So here’s what I learned from my newest novel, the Purple WIP:

1.  I can write adults.  I’ve never had a main character over the age of about 25.  Jen is almost 40 with three kids, and her oldest is 15.  I know how to think like a teenager because I’ve experienced it.  Putting myself in the mindset of someone older than me was foreign, though we figured each other out by the end.

2. It’s really tricky writing ambiguous endings.  My other novels had a clear cut ending.  They achieved their goals, they overcame their obstacles, and they lived happily ever after.  I’m a huge fan of HEA.  But with Alzheimer’s, that’s not really an option.  One of the reasons that it took me so long to finish was because I didn’t know where the story ended. 

3. Writing in two languages is harder than it looks.  Jen is married to a Hispanic man, and they are asked to help a Spanish Congregation of their church.  She doesn’t speak Spanish, but there’s constant Spanish around her.  Trying to write a conversation between her and some of the sisters in her congregation was almost impossible, though probably very accurate.

4. It’s a lot harder to write real places.  When I make up a setting, I can decide where the cities are, what the weather’s like, and the history.  Not so much with real life fiction.  Though, I did learn how to spell Milwaukee, so that’s a plus, right?

5.  I enjoy writing YA Fantasy.  I think this was the biggest thing I learned.  It was a great experience, and I’ve been wanting to write an Alzheimer’s story for years now, but I don’t know that I’m going to branch out to write more of those kinds of novels.  One is good enough for me.

2015 Goals and Resolutions

Happy 2015! 

Last year, I posted a list of my writing resolutions I wanted to accomplish, and I was able to not only complete each one, I also accomplished more than I expected.  I attribute a lot of that to you, and the support you gave me.

This year, I’m going to try and push myself even more.

First and foremost, since it is a new year, I’ve been experimenting with rearranging.  Saturday, I had our neighbor come over and we rearranged our front room.  (You know you have a nice neighbor when he’s willing to move a piano on a night of relaxing.  So I’m going to be playing around with some of the way that the blog looks.  Not a whole lot, but hopefully it makes it a little easier to navigate.

Other than that, here’s my list for this next year.

1.       Focus on publishing. 

Unfortunately, I have the personality that will edit and revise a work to death because I know that no matter where I stop, there will still be something more I can change.  My husband and I have a deal though, he applies for internships, I send out queries.  I think right now, I’m going to say start with 5 a month.  That should be pretty doable.

2.       Participate (and win!) both Camp NaNoWriMos and the regular NaNoWriMo.

I can’t believe I didn’t add that to my list last year.  I was able to participate as the ML, which was awesome.  We’ve even come up with some fun games for our group to play during Camp NaNoWriMo (namely a writing group version of Werewolf.  Yes, be jealous.)

3.       Read 52 books in the year 2015.

Reading helps me write in more ways than I can count.  Seeing how others do it – what makes sense, what doesn’t, it teaches me more than just straight writing.  And I’ve seen that when I critique and read for others working to publish, I learn even more when giving advice.

That’s it.  Nothing specific about any of the WIPs, because I can’t foresee how this year is going to go.  But I’m going to make sure that I’m writing.  That’s the biggest thing.

What are your goals for this next year?

Finding the Drive

So I have a secret.  I haven’t written.  In almost 2 months.  It’s not that I didn’t plan on it, or that I didn’t have any projects going.  In fact, I was working on a major rewrite of my Blue WIP. 

It’s so easy to take a day off, maybe two.  Then two days stretch into a week, and a week becomes a month. 

At first, it was torture, knowing that I needed to write, wanting to write, but not having the time.  But as the weeks passed, it became easier to justify the time off.  I found other things to do, shows to watch, people to hang out with, even stuff to do at work to keep me too busy to write.

Two nights ago, as I was talking to my husband about NaNoWriMo, he mentioned that I would really struggle because of how long I’d gone without writing.  I decided to use the rest of the month of October to build up my writing strength. 

Though easier said than done.

Last night, I struggled to rewrite a scene.  It took me almost 2 hours, which for me, is nowhere near par.  It took me almost an hour just to start.  I reread the sections I’d already finished, worked through what I wanted to write, even forced myself to start and restart several times. 

Tonight again, I’m going to work on a new scene.  There’s a whole new section that I need to add, and I’m hoping that writing from a blank page will help me find the drive and excitement again. 

Either way, I know what’s going to help me to write.  It’s writing.  I have to write daily until I find that drive, that desire that makes me want to never stop.  The fuel for writing is writing.  How crazy is that?

What do you do when you get in a writing slump?

NaNoWriMo

Pssst!

See this new badge? 

That’s right!  I have the privilege of being one of the Co-MLs in my region – in its brand new, inaugural year. 

I can’t even tell you how excited I am for NaNoWriMo.  Last year was an absolute blast.  I really wish I hadn’t taken so much time to actually participate.  I’d heard about it for years, and I’d always wondered what it would be like…but I never had the courage to actually try.

The greatest advantage to NaNoWriMo is the community.  Have you ever heard that writing is a lonely profession?  That’s because it can be.  I mean…other than the imaginary people that traipse around our heads.  I was a lone writer for years, all through high school and through college.  I never went out to find anyone else who had the same interests or who knew what I was going through.

Then I started following some writing blogs, which led to finding writing communities.  I stayed on the outside, on the fringe.  It took me way too long to actually participate in any of the communities though. 

Then I joined NaNoWriMo.  That was the first writing group I’d ever been in where I had face to face interactions with other writers.  And it wasn’t just people who were like me, there were teenagers, college students, mothers, and fathers – every kind of person imaginable.  But there was something that connected all of us and made us into a united group. 

Writing can be a lonely profession, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be.  Any of you thinking about participating in NaNoWriMo?  Do it!  Even if you don’t make the 50,000, there’s a benefit of finding others in your area that will encourage you to continue writing.

So what are you waiting for?  Let me know if you want to be writing buddies!

Update

Whew!  I know I’ve been a bit MIA lately, I’ve had a little bit of life get in the way.  Fortunately, it wasn’t anything bad, just a lot of celebrations.

So today, I thought I’d just let you all know what I’ve been up to.

Yesterday, I finally finished the draft of my Yellow WIP, which right now I’m calling The Stone Mason.  I’m going to be doing a final read-through for typos, then hopefully I can find some betas willing to do a structural read for me.  I’m really excited about this one.  I love getting into that kid’s head, and the chance to ‘think’ like a teenage boy. 

I’ve also had some wonderful people going through The King’s Councilor, and I think that they’ve really rooted out some of the plot flaws, especially in the middle.  I’m hoping to jump in and start with revisions in the next few days.  I just need to buy a new blue binder.  Though, I don’t always need an excuse like that to buy office supplies.  Those just make me happy.

This month (at least, if I understand correctly) I’m going to be published!  It’s an article in Home Health Aide Digest on maintaining wellness in the mental health hospice population.  It was an amazing experience working with my editor, and I’m excited to see it come out.  I’ll admit that I check my mailbox frequently as I wait for my copy.

And for those of you wondering about The Orphans of Jadox, I was very blessed to be one of the ones picked by Brenda Drake to participate in the July query workshop.  I can’t wait to get some feedback, and the chance to make it shine even more.  Not that the rejections aren’t fun.  I do keep them all in a file to remind myself that even though they say no, they’re also proof that I’m actually trying.  I don’t think that would have even been a possibility a year or so ago.

Last but not least, I’ve been working on the prewriting for my next NaNoWriMo story!  It’s going to be set in Milwaukee, so hopefully at some point, I’ll learn how to spell that without using spellcheck.  I'm going to also have to assign it a color at some point.  I’ve applied to be a joint ML in my region, and I’m eagerly waiting for their response.

Wow.  When I look over everything, it feels like a lot.  I guess I’ve been so busy I haven’t really paid attention to what’s going on.

So what about the rest of you?  Any news you want to share – writing or otherwise?  

Let Your Writing Simmer

Last week, I invited some friends over for dinner.  Nothing special, I’d just been feeling like the hermit and wanted to spend some time with other people.

I’d had the entire meal planned out.  I decided to go with a Chinese theme: pork and cabbage, stir-fry, sweet and sour chicken.  I was excited.  Honestly, I’ve always been of the opinion that if you’re not cooking for a lot of people, why cook at all?

Unfortunately, because of circumstances I couldn’t control, I had to go into work that afternoon for a little while.  I got home with about an hour before everyone arrived.  And I hadn’t prepared a thing.  Sure, the meat and vegetables had been cut, but there’s still the time that it takes to cook it all.  I began working like a madwoman; I had three pans on the stove, stirring them all at the same time.  I forced my husband to stop doing homework because I needed help frying the chicken.

Surprisingly, I finished by the time everyone arrived.  Everything was ready, the food was cooked, but it just didn’t taste right to me.  Later, talking with my husband, we both agreed that in my rush, I hadn’t allowed my food to simmer and for the spices and juices to really permeate through the entire dish.  That’s probably why the leftovers taste so good.  Yum!

Last night, I was thinking about the entire experience, and it reminded me of writing.  There’s a reason why we can’t just write a first draft and bam!  Send it out without a second thought.  There’s a simmering process to writing that adds just as much flavor as leaving something on the stove for an extra few minutes.  Allowing the writing to sit, to really coagulate can help when we come back to write.  I know that when I finish a draft, I can read through and think it’s brilliant.

After a few weeks of sitting, it doesn’t feel like it’s the best I’ve ever done.

Then it’s time for the fun part.  Adding the spices, the flavor.  Cut out the unnecessary words, add more vibrant verbs.  Show instead of tell.  Each ingredient adds to the dish until it’s something that I want to share with others.

Isn’t that what writing’s about anyway?

Working on Multiple Projects

I have a question for all of you.

Do you work on multiple projects at once? 

I tend to work on one at a time, but once I finish a draft, I move to the next one.  However, this month has been a bit odd for me.  I don’t know if it’s that I’ve got enough going on that I feel like I’m jumping from one thing to another without any clear direction.  Maybe I’m losing my ability to multitask.  Or maybe I’m using it too much.  I don’t know.

In April, I finished my Blue WIP, and now it’s up for critiques.  I’ve been getting some awesome feedback, and I love it.  While I wait for the critiques to finish, I’ve been trying to use May to work on revising my Yellow WIP.  As much as I’m enjoying this one, (and trust me, it’s one of my favorites) I’m having a hard time concentrating on it. 

Actually, it’s not as much a matter of concentrating.  It’s a matter of getting down to work.  Every time that I start a section, I get so caught up, I keep reading to the end.  I think I’ve read the whole thing three times this month already.  I love these characters and the story, but I can’t concentrate on it enough to focus on revisions. 

Whenever I’m working on a novel, the characters take up residence in my brain.  In my spare time, or when I have a chance to stare out the window, I let them bumble around in there.  They tell me what their story needs or if there are any changes that need to be made.

Except this time, the characters from the Blue WIP haven’t moved out.  They’re fighting over space in my brain and I feel torn between the two stories.

So now I’m wondering how all of you deal with it.  Do you work on multiple projects at once?  How do you bounce from one to another?

Quantifying My Productivity

Last year, I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time.  (Short for National Novel Writing Month.)  It was one of my most productive months, and I think the biggest reason was because I kept track of my progress. 

I love to write, but at the same time, it’s so much easier to procrastinate.  The NaNoWriMo website has a tracker that allowed me to write my word count for the day and I could see the progress throughout the month.  Last month, I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo, where I could create my own word count goals and add them together.

Later, once I finished with my word count goal, my productivity tanked.  It’s not that I really pay attention to word count, but I love seeing a visual representation of my progress.  I attempted to set something up in Microsoft Excel, though I really don’t know how to use the program well enough to do anything really helpful.

That’s where my sister comes in.  I told her about my attempts, and being the genius she is, she was able to set something up that I absolutely love. 

I thought I’d share it here, so that if any of you are Excel gurus, you’d probably be able to set it up yourself.

 She started out with two columns - One for the daily word count, and the second column automatically adds them all up together.  (Something about auto sum, I think.)

Obviously, I don't write daily, and since I've been working on revisions on paper, I only update word count once it's typed up, which is why there's 6000 on some days.  (And the beginning of this month was not productive at all, hence all the zero's.

Then, she added graphs (and showed me how to make graphs) so that I can see the progress throughout the month. 

Awesome, right?  She's definitely talented at what she does.

Do you pay attention to word count?  How do you quantify your productivity?

Word Verbosity

Have you ever hard the phrase, “If I had more time, it would be shorter?”

I tried looking up who the quote came from, but it looks like it’s attributed to quite a few people.  I had originally thought it was from Mark Twain. 

It’s a phrase that I never quite understood.  Most of my first drafts are bare bones.  I have the structure, but there’s no furnishings.  It takes me two or three more drafts to put the actual details into the story.  Which is why my first draft is usually hovering just above 50,000, but once I get to a finished MS, It’s usually about 75,000. 

But I had a recent experience where I finally realized what this meant.  I had to write something nonfiction, something important, and I didn’t have a lot of time.  In fact, I only had about an hour and a half before I had to submit it.  It took me about that long just to write it.  However, I noticed something strange.

As I’m trying to get all of my ideas down, and sound professional, my writing became incredibly verbose.  All of a sudden, I was using five or six words to describe something that only needed one or two. 

And the words I used!

It became harder and harder to read because the words I used were longer and less common.  Maybe it’s because I felt like it needed to sound professional.  Maybe because I didn’t have time to think of a better word.  Either way, once I finished, I knew that it was way over the top.  The writing wasn’t thought through, and it showed. 

When writing a novel, I work on getting the story down.  I don’t care about the words, the tone, anything else.  Most of the time that comes naturally.  But when I’m writing to impress?

Whew.  I need to give myself more time to edit.

How about the rest of you?  Do you have to add or cut after you write a first draft?

So Little Time

Ever wished you had more hours in the day?  I know I always do.  Though I’d probably just use them to get more sleep. 

Recently, I’ve been finding myself trying to balance even more as I take on extra projects.  I’ve been doing a lot more critiquing, a lot more reading, and I’ve been participating in Camp NaNoWriMo.  Between those, researching and querying agents, the extra overtime at work and the housework that somehow doesn’t always get done, I know why I feel as though there’s a lot on my plate.

Ever feel like your time's getting eaten by a giant caterpillar? 

Despite that, I’m loving this.  I feel like I’m finally getting my stride, forming the habits that I need to continue.  Writing does have a way of consuming just about everything.  Driving to work, I think about my characters.  There are days when they don’t stop chattering in my head.  When I can’t sleep at night (a common side effect of working night shift) I stay up late and do critiquing.  During my lunch break, I pull out a book and read. 

Even this morning, I cleaned the front rooms of my house, so at least I’m not completely slacking on that department.

The secret is finding the time.  Those fifteen minutes that could have been wasted on something else.  The moments of insomnia where I could be tossing and turning in bed.  The lunch break where I could be watching random shows on the TV.  It’s a matter of knowing what to use my time on.  What do I want to focus on?

Plus, setting clear goals helps immensely.  That’s why I love the Camp NaNoWriMo.  I can keep track of my progress throughout the month.  In fact, I’m 4,000 short of completing my goal of 50,000 words revised of the Blue WIP. 

I’ve heard that there’s a way to do the same thing in Scrivener, but I don’t want to set a goal as to how many words need to be in a specific scene or chapter.  Does anyone know how to just set a goal for a specific time and add to it?

We’ve all got the same amount of time.  What matters is how we use it.

Burnout

The past month has been pretty grueling.  Workwise.  I’m to the point where I’ve worked at least 6 hours every single day over the past two weeks – some days culminating in up to 12 hours.  Because I work nights, it’s hard to get a day that’s really off.  And yes, I’ve been a bit frustrated about it.

Right now, I’m experiencing what nurses call burnout.  What happens when someone is worked so hard, given so few breaks that it’s hard to focus…or care.  Which is something that I hate.  I’m a nurse because I love nursing, I love being there for the patients, and knowing that I can make a difference.  So when I’m exhausted to the point that I don’t care, I know that I need to get away.  I need to step away, focus on something else – especially myself.

Burnout happens quite frequently because of the nature of nursing.  There’s a lot that’s expected, including keeping people alive.  And there can be days that are so stressful you want to scream.  Even at nights. 

Unfortunately, burnout doesn’t happen in just nursing.  It can happen to anyone who doesn’t balance their lives.  Too much of anything can be bad.  Too much physical, too much sleep… the body needs balance. 

In my health class, I remember learning about the five areas of development.  Physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, spiritual.  Each area is important, and we need to learn how to focus them. 

Right now, I’m feeling a bit lopsided, too much physical and emotional, not enough spiritual or mental.  For me, the best balance for nursing is writing.  It’s a chance to sit down, focus on my thoughts, be with myself.  I’m an introvert, which is not an option when nursing.  I’m always speaking with doctors, patients, family members, even other nurses.  No matter how much I’m working, I always come into contact with other people.  So it’s nice to come home, curl up and spend some time with my imaginary friends.

I just wish we could spend some time together.

How do you keep balance in your life?

Why I Write

The ending of 2013 was a bit rocky, though I think I’ve figured out why.  I stopped writing.  Life got pretty hectic and I felt like I had to set something aside, and writing was what I chose.  December was a terrible month, but after a long talk with my dad over the holidays, I realized that writing is my escape. 

When life gets hectic, the last thing to do is desert the thing that releases stress.  While driving to my parents’ house and back, I began writing again, and I remembered everything that I love about writing.

Going back to my stories is like greeting old friends.  I know these characters inside and out.  I know their struggles and their needs, and I want to cheer for them as they pursue their goals.  These characters make up a large part of my life.  And I know that it sounds weird saying that since technically they aren’t real.  But they’re real to me. 

Writing is a way for me to connect with my subconscious.  My creativity.  My inner child.  The part of my mind that doesn’t stress about passing medications on time or whether or not someone needs a catheter changed.  A section that doesn’t notice the laundry that’s piling up or the dishes lying in the sink.  In that part of my mind, I don’t remember the health problems that bring me down or the disappointment that make me want to cry.  It’s the chance to feel new and renewed, experiencing life for the first time and in a new world where I can control everything that happens.  I know that things will work out, even if it’s an imaginary struggle.  It still feels like a victory when it’s over.

When I write, I create.  I make a difference that I can see.  That’s not always possible in the rest of life.  As a nurse, sometimes, I get discouraged, knowing that there’s only so much that I can do for someone.  The human body is unpredictable, constantly changing.  At home, no matter what I do, there’s always something else that needs attention.  But when I write, I can see the changes, the increase in word count, the building of chapter upon chapter.  And no matter what happens, whether I need to rewrite it or not, it’s there.  I’ve saved it and it’s not going to disappear.  It’s not going to change. 

I need writing.  I need to allow that part of myself freedom to create and to flow.  When I suppress it, the rest of my life suffers and I struggle to focus. 

Why do you write?