From Edie: Lori Hatcher shares five practical ways to stay productive when life interrupts your writing schedule and make the most of unexpected downtime.
When Life Interrupts Your Writing: 5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Time
by Lori Hatcher
Mondays and Tuesdays are writing days around my house. As a bi-vocational writer (a.k.a. a writer with a day job), I have to set a pretty strict writing schedule to be productive. Mondays and Tuesdays are writing days, Wednesdays and Thursdays are dental office days (I’m a career dental hygienist), and Fridays are family days. Because of the other demands in my life, I know that if I don’t protect my dedicated writing days, I won’t meet my deadlines or advance my writing and speaking ministry.
But what do you do when you find yourself sitting in the ER with a sick parent (or child, or spouse) on one of your writing days? Or handling another unexpected responsibility that didn’t play nicely with your writing day commitment? How do you keep moving despite schedule interruptions?
Don’t assume your writing day is totally shot. It’s easy to say, “Well, there goes my writing day,” pack up your computer, and chalk the day up as a total loss. But it doesn’t have to be.
If the atmosphere isn’t conducive to creative writing, look for other writing-related tasks you can do.
Here are a few ER-friendly duties I handled during my long wait:
()
1. I answered emails. My email inbox is seldom up to date. I handle the most urgent and time sensitive communication daily, but I often must defer responding to non-urgent types. As I waited in the ER, I was able to thank readers who reached out to me, answer questions friends or associates had sent, and take care of simple requests.
2. I filed or deleted non-essential emails. Who has time to delete every spam message, junk message, and already-responded-to message? Well, I had that time in the ER that day J. I also moved other emails out of my inbox and into their proper folders so I can more easily locate them when I need them.
3. I scheduled social media posts (not about being in the ER, please). I’ll admit, scheduling social media posts is usually waaaaay down on my To Do list. Because it didn’t require much concentration, I found it easy to do while I waited for doctors to see my loved one. All you need is your computer or phone and an internet connection (make a hot-spot on your phone or tap into the local wifi) and you can redeem the time by getting connected with your followers and friends.
4. I jotted down writing ideas for my next blog post, article, and chapter. If the atmosphere in which you find yourself isn’t conducive to creative thought and quality writing, jot down ideas instead. As I thought longingly of the WIP (Work In Progress) that was currently a WNIP (Work Not In Progress), I decided to spend some time brainstorming.
In the Notes app on my phone, I jotted down Bible verses I wanted to use for a devotion, a memory/story that might make a good illustration, and a list of potential points for an upcoming article. They weren’t complete paragraphs, but they would jump start my writing when things were quiet and I could write again.
5. I replied to comments on my blog. I try to reply to comments quickly, but some always get by me. This “unproductive” writing time provided the perfect opportunity to catch up on this important task.
I hope you never have a loved one in the ER or hospital. Thankfully mine was okay after receiving care. But I know one (or more) of your writing days will eventually go sideways. When it does, don’t assume you can’t write at all that day. If you’re serious about writing, look for ways to redeem your interruption.
Because we know God is sovereign over the events, people, and circumstances of our life, we can rest in the fact that what appears to be an interruption just might be His holy redirection. God never wastes anything. You can be confident that as you seek to diligently steward the writing gift He has given you, He will direct your path.
“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
TWEETABLE
No comments:
Post a Comment